Community and Rural Rotations Support Program (CARRS)

CARRS Program Goals

  • Provide financial support for students interested in rural practice
  • Offer the opportunity for health profession students to contribute to impacting health outcomes through community-based projects
  • Create a platform for rural community recruitment efforts

The CARRS Program

  • Offers a stipend to students who are participating in rural rotations and have an interest in entering rural practice after graduation.
  • Rotations must be scheduled or requested in one of the high risk/high need counties identified as CARRS Counties. These counties include: Boone, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Fayette, Hampshire, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, McDowell/Wyoming, Mingo, Ritchie, Roane, Wirt
  • the student is responsible for completing a community project with the guidance of a community mentor, like Health Sciences Technology Academy (HSTA) community research associates and county extension agents.
  • Students are paired with their community mentor before the rotation begins and the mentor connects the student to with a substantive community health project in the local community.
  • Projects are listed by county and when the student is completing the CARRS application they will be asked to provide specific information about their rotation and choose one project in the county where their rotation is scheduled.
    The student is also responsible for completing a written reflection of the student’s community experience and a brief evaluation after the rotation is complete.
  • CARRS is a program of the WVU Institute for Community and Rural Health (ICRH) and has support from the Schools of Dentistry and Medicine, on all campuses. The ICRH staff works with the community mentors and projects are identified and approved by ICRH staff as appropriate for health professional students to support a positive experience for all.

The CARRS application is now open for the following:

The CARRS application process now offers quarterly submission deadlines. All applications submitted by the deadlines listed below will be reviewed and applicants contacted within one week.

Any applicant, from any of our four disciplines (medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and physician assistant) can apply at any time once their rural rotation is requested.

The CARRS application is now open and will remain open indefinitely with the following submission deadlines:

  • September 30
  • December 31
  • March 31
  • June 30

Third Year medical students who already have their required four-week rural Family Medicine Clerkship rotation or four-week Rural Track Internal Medicine rural rotation requested or scheduled in one of our CARRS counties can apply now.

Dental, Pharmacy and Physician Assistant Students who have rural rotations requested or scheduled in one of our CARRS counties can apply now.

Available projects are listed by county. Applicants have to choose one of the projects when submitting the CARRS application.

The CARRS stipend will be paid via third party vendor after completion of the CARRS project. Vendor will also issue 1099 to each student for tax purposes.

Questions about the CARRS Program and the projects below can be addressed to Jacquelynn Copenhaver and Molly Linkous.