Lewis Honors College students expand UK’s health care education reach into rural populations

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 27, 2023) — Jackson Miller and Ethan Morgan, former Marshall County High School classmates and now best friends and roommates at the University of Kentucky Lewis Honors College, first arrived in Lexington feeling a bit overwhelmed of all the opportunities available to them UK.

Coming from a rural area of Kentucky, where the majority of high school graduates enter the workforce or the military rather than attend college, Miller, from Sharpe, Kentucky, and Morgan, from Fairdealing, Kentucky, felt they did not have a clear roadmap of how to pursue their career aspirations of becoming physicians. To help other students not feel so lost in navigating all of the health care education opportunities, Miller and Morgan created a student organization during their sophomore year to help other students like them. The organization, HealthCare Cats, is now “providing an avenue into college and health care opportunities for rural students of Kentucky in order to create a better Commonwealth.” 

To start their program, Miller, a psychology major, and Morgan, a biology major, worked with several UK colleges focused on the health care industry including the College of Medicine, College of Dentistry, College of Pharmacy and College of Nursing, for information about how to present themselves as the best candidate for those types of degrees. The two students then developed a presentation that has been shared with rural high school and college students to encourage them to aspire to a career in health care and show them the different options and opportunities that are offered at UK.

“We wanted to help students who felt behind, didn’t have the greatest study habits and most certainly weren’t aware of many of the opportunities in health care,” Miller said. 

Over time, the organization, which already boasts over 160 students, will include guest speakers, networking opportunities and a mentoring program to connect first-year students with more experienced students.

“These opportunities for the members of the organization will allow us to not only reach the younger, rural generation, but also cultivate a community of future rural health leaders within the organization,” Morgan said. 

Already, the organization has had speakers such as Dean Christian Brady from the Lewis Honors College, who spoke to the organization on discovering your “why” for health care and education, combating burnout, handling changes in the path of life, managing adversity in life, and more. The organization also held a graduate student panel with students from nursing, medicine, physical therapy, the physician assistant program, dentistry and pharmacy. The students shared application tips, pros and cons of their programs, and advice they would consider if they had to do it all over again. 

This Friday, Dec. 1, HealthCare Cats, in partnership with Appalachian Health Initiative, will welcome Michael D. Rankin, M.D., to speak at 5 p.m. in the Lewis Honors College Scholars Lounge. Rankin is a graduate of UK as an undergraduate student, medical student and medical resident. He recently pledged $22 million to “advance the mission of the UK College of Medicine and expand the top-notch educational opportunities through the support of a new health education building and the funding of medical student scholarships,” as stated in the UKMedicine magazine. Rankin had quite a non-traditional path to medicine, as he graduated from his undergraduate studies and spent six years in the electrical engineering field to accumulate enough funds to attend medical school. This was a common occurrence in Rankin’s life, as he explains how before attending UK for his undergraduate career, his family resorted to selling a cow to afford the tuition. Rankin has provided unconditional support for those with similar backgrounds to himself attempting to enter the medical field, as he understands the struggles of attending college from a rural environment.

“Dr. Rankin coming to speak with us will be great, for he will understand the backgrounds of our membership and be able to offer advice from the perspective of someone who has walked their paths,” Morgan said.

Appalachian Health Initiative will join HealthCare Cats in the roundtable discussion.

“Having worked with students Maddie Duff (president) and Ben Vickery in the past, it is clear that the missions of our organizations align in critical ways,” Morgan said. “Dr. Rankin speaks very highly of Appalachian students and often notes the need for them in Kentucky’s health care system. We are so excited to be able to bring in their diverse perspectives and work together to build a better Commonwealth.”  

Supplementing the event programming, HealthCare Cats initiated a mentorship program where rural, first-year students are matched with an upperclass student to make the college/pre-health transition smoother. The first director of HealthCare Cats’ Mentorship Program, Maya Moskal, is from Chicago and is now considering a career in a rural market.

"Being from a bigger city, HealthCare Cats has broadened my knowledge on the health care disparities present in rural areas,” she said. “The program has opened many doors by encouraging me to give back to Kentucky, in addition to helping me personally succeed at UK in many ways.” 

Through HealthCare Cats, Miller and Morgan hope to apply the common chemistry phrase “like dissolves like” by helping rural students achieve their medical aspirations — and then return to their hometowns.

“Who better to serve rural populations in Kentucky than those who resided there for much of their lives?” said Morgan. 

Part of the success of the HealthCare Cats organization is due to the leadership skills Miller and Morgan acquired as part of the Lewis Honors College. To name a few, Miller is serving as an Honors College Ambassador Team member for a second year which polishes his presentation skills as he provides information sessions and tours for prospective students and their families. Morgan worked for the UK Football team as an athletic training aide, serves as a Lewis Liaison and conducts research in David Rodgers’ biochemistry laboratory, among many other things. Both Miller and Morgan also served on the strategic planning committee, provide tutoring services in the sciences and participate in the Early Assurance Program since their acceptance last year. 

To learn more about HealthCare Cats, follow @healthcarecats on Instagram, and find out when the next monthly meeting is by visiting BBNvolved.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.