Andrew Jones, 20, of Greenville, recently completed the eight-week 2010 Huntsville Rural Pre-medical Internship of the UAB School of Medicine, Huntsville Regional Medical Campus. Jones, a junior at the University of Alabama majoring in microbiology, is the son of Jack and Ellen Jones.

This highly competitive program provides selected pre-medical students from rural areas with a broad exposure to medicine which, hopefully, will inspire them to choose a career as a physician practicing in rural Alabama. The internship is sponsored by the Alabama Family Practice Rural Health Board

The experience included 40 lectures on a wide variety of subjects ranging from farm injury to genetics research as well as several field trips, including visits to a chicken processing plant and a rural hospital.  Jones spent more than 150 hours shadowing and learning from physicians and other medical professionals in Huntsville and with Dr. Pat Walker of Luverne.

The interns also spent two days getting hands-on instruction in basic patient procedures  from twenty faculty members at Calhoun Community College’s Division of Health Sciences.