First Primary Care Physician Scholarship recipients return to practice in Arizona

The first three recipients of the University of Arizona Health Sciences Primary Care Physician Scholarship program are fulfilling their commitments to practice primary care in Arizona.

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Dawn Bowling, MD, Megan Kelly, MD, and George Nguyen, MD, all completed their residencies last summer and accepted positions as primary care physicians in Arizona.

“For many years, Arizona has faced a growing need for more primary care physicians, especially in medically underserved urban and rural areas,” said Michael D. Dake, MD, senior vice president for the University of Arizona Health Sciences. “The Primary Care Physician Scholarship program was built to help fill this need and improve access to care for all Arizonans. We are so proud to see the first of our PCP Scholarship recipients return to Arizona. We know they will have an immediate and positive impact as doctors.”

Bowling entered the Primary Care Physician Scholarship Program in 2019 as a fourth-year medical student at the UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson. In September, she joined the Kingman Regional Medical Center in Kingman, Arizona.

“A big problem in our rural communities is that we don't have enough primary care physicians,” Bowling said. “The Primary Care Physician scholarship helps attract aspiring primary care physicians, and then hopefully they stay to practice for many years to come.”

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A Phoenix native, Kelly graduated from the UArizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. After completing a residency at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix, Kelly was hired at the Neighborhood Outreach Access to Health Desert Mission Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center in Phoenix. The center accepts patients with all types of insurance coverage and utilizes a sliding-scale fee system for individuals who do not have or are unable to gain health care coverage. 

“The way I view primary care is that we are the safety net for the patient because we are their entry point into the health care system,” Kelly said. “It’s us to up as a primary care provider to make the patient comfortable with the health care system. When we make health care understandable and accessible to them, they are more receptive and stay engaged with the health care system, which leads to them living healthier lives.”

Nguyen graduated from the College of Medicine – Phoenix and completed a residency at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix. He recently became an assistant clinical professor of internal medicine at the College of Medicine – Phoenix in addition to his work at Banner Health Center in Arcadia.

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“I have built relationships in the community that can be essential for my patients,” Nguyen said. “I recently had a female patient who is a domestic violence survivor. I was able to connect her with a nearby woman’s leadership program that I have a relationship with. Even though it is outside the scope of medicine per se, we as primary care providers can go above and beyond that to connect our patients with community resources that are going to help them.”

The Primary Care Physician Scholarship Program is currently supporting 92 active medical students. An additional 45 scholarship recipients have graduated and are in various stages of residency training.

Developed in partnership with and funded by a portion of $8 million approved by the Arizona Legislature in 2019, the Primary Care Physician Scholarship program addresses two critical issues in health care: Arizona’s shortage of primary care physicians and a rising amount of debt for medical students. In exchange for free tuition, primary care physician scholarship recipients agree to practice primary care in a rural or urban underserved community in Arizona.