To say fourth-year medical student Jay Devineni is active in the University of Missouri School of Medicine community would be an understatement. Whether it’s excelling in the classroom, gaining hands-on experience in rural Missouri or advocating for local and national public health projects, Devineni is constantly looking to advance undeserved communities.
As he joins his School of Medicine Class of 2025 peers at Match Day, an annual event where medical students from across the country open the envelope that contains their residency match, Devineni is grateful for all the opportunities he’s been given to impact the lives of others.
After earning a trio of bachelor’s degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and master’s degrees from Columbia University and George Washington University, respectively, Devineni was formally accepted into the MU School of Medicine and set his sights on public and rural health.
“When I applied to Mizzou, I earned a Master of Public Health during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and there was no better time to be studying that emphasis,” said Devineni. “I learned so much and really fell in love with the idea of creating programs that would fill gaps in our healthcare system and address social determinants of health. Once at MU, I knew I wanted to focus my medical education around aiding underserved communities and I’ve been fortunate to do that through the Rural Scholars Program.”
While Devineni didn’t grow up in a rural community himself, he knew it was critical to learn more about the challenges that exist in those settings while bettering his future of being a physician and public health practitioner. He credits the community-based faculty and rural physician preceptors he’s collaborated with for his growth in rural settings.
“There are many things that stand out to me about the Rural Scholars Program, but number one on the list is the generosity of those educators,” said Devineni. “Despite having a disproportionately large volume of patients when compared to their non-rural counterparts, they are unwavering in their commitment to giving students the time and attention they need to grow into successful physicians.”
The medical school’s Rural Scholars Program offers students clinical experience and an array of unique opportunities in rural communities. The Rural Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LINC) and Community Integration Project (CIP) are two such programs that Devineni took full advantage of in his medical school tenure.
LINC is unique in that it allows a medical student to meet all their required clinical experiences while assigned to a rural clinical training site. They experience continuity of care firsthand by following select patients over multiple healthcare settings and across specialties.
“Through LINC, I did my entire third year of medical school at Bothwell Regional Health Center in Sedalia, Missouri, and was able to curate my own panel of 15 patients,” said Devineni. “This allowed me to follow them through the continuity of their care throughout the academic year. Patient examples included seeing a newborn child at all their well-child visits, as well as seeing a pregnant individual from prenatal care through birth and the postpartum period. I had well over 100 clinical encounters with my 15 patients and I can’t overstate how valuable that patient panel was to my education.”
Through the CIP, students conduct research on community health needs in a region of the state and develop and evaluate a community research project to address the identified needs. At the conclusion of the research project, an academic poster and paper are submitted to highlight the students’ findings.
Devineni and his classmate, Marcus Mallen, developed an education-based obesity reduction intervention that was implemented across three rural Missouri counties in conjunction with MU Extension. The project, which included interactive discussions on the topics of balanced eating and exercise, ultimately resulted in statistically significant improvements in the diets of the program’s 53 participants.
“The CIP was an incredible experience as it allowed us to interface directly with the community in ways that go beyond the traditional role of the physician,” said Devineni. “I was honored to have MU Extension decide to continue our intervention after we finished our rural rotations, so this project will continue to help rural Missourians for years to come.”
As Devineni reflects on all the opportunities he was given during his time at the School of Medicine, he is more certain than ever that this is his life’s calling.
“These experiences solidified that I want to serve underserved communities, regardless of where they are nationally or globally,” said Devineni. “There are many things that make rural patients in the country unique, but I think it’s also important to recognize that rural communities can be just as diverse as any urban community.”
“Through Rural Scholars, I had the privilege to learn from patients of many different backgrounds, including individuals from Mexico, Ukraine, and local Amish and Mennonite communities. That wide range of patients provided me with rich learning experiences that enhanced my training and will allow me to better serve diverse populations in the future.”
Following this year’s edition of the School of Medicine Match Day, Devineni learned he matched with the University of Missouri-Kansas City in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. Congratulations to the entire MU Class of 2025 medical students!
