Anna Schuster
“Community-based health is really exciting in a way that opens up a lot of opportunities to improve outcomes, not just for people, but also for their communities. WVU has academic pathways to train future providers for those opportunities, which is what led me to medical school.”
A combination of reasons led Anna Schuster to pursuing a career in rural medicine, but her experiences in a rural West Virginia community where she watched her neighbors move due to their advancing medical needs and lack of providers in the area helped solidify her choice.
Schuster, a third-year medical student in the West Virginia University School of Medicine’s Rural Track program, grew up in Columbia, Maryland, but spent a significant portion of her childhood in Terra Alta in Preston County, West Virginia, after her family purchased a home there when she was 10 years old. Schuster's decision to pursue pediatric rural medicine at WVU School of Medicine was vastly impacted by her family’s roots in agriculture and her mother’s work as a teacher.
“I grew up interested in science and I watched my mom work with children with disabilities from birth through age five. I would really like to merge my interest in science with my desire to work with children and families- kind of following in my mom's footsteps.” Schuster said.
As someone whose childhood experiences in West Virginia allowed her to witness how rural communities were affected by issues like lack of healthcare providers or less access to healthy food, Schuster knew she wanted to attend WVU.
“I wanted to go to WVU specifically because I've always wanted to practice in a rural setting and work with people that might face additional barriers in accessing care. I think that community-based health is really exciting in a way that opens up a lot of opportunities to improve outcomes, not just for people, but also for their communities. WVU has academic pathways to train future providers for those opportunities, which is what led me to go to medical school here and pursue this path,” Schuster said.
As she progresses through her studies, Schuster received the 2024 Rural Health Student Award from the West Virginia Rural Health Association. She was nominated by WVU School of Medicine Assistant Professor Slywia Brooks, M.D., PhD., who served as her preceptor at the Mylan Puskar Health Right Clinic, a free community clinic located on High Street in downtown Morgantown, where Schuster volunteers.
“It's a big honor to receive this award. The West Virginia Rural Health Association is a really large, robust network of health professionals throughout the state who all share similar goals of trying to advance rural health. So being selected as the recipient, is a nice recognition that says ‘she also cares about these things really significantly and has put a lot of time, work and extra effort beyond just the curriculum requirements towards improving health in rural areas,’” Schuster said.
Schuster added she loves being able to work and learn in a healthy environment with a network of supportive mentors, teachers and fellow learners. She said the individuals she has met throughout the School of Medicine have helped her be able to thrive and achieve awards like the Rural Health Student Award.
“It was a big honor and it makes me reflect on my education so far. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people that have contributed to my education- my mentors and people I've looked up to. I've tried to seek opportunities to model my future career after them. There are a lot of individuals behind the scenes that helped me receive that award by providing me with opportunities and experiences that make me a good candidate for it,” Schuster said.
Schuster plans to combine her passions- rural health care and pediatrics. She applied and was accepted to the Rural Scholars Program through the WVU School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics where she will complete her residency program. She hopes to go into outpatient pediatrics and work in a rural community.