BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Members of the inaugural class of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine-Bowling Green Campus are returning to their home state to practice medicine, exemplifying the mission of the regional campus to address Kentucky's physician shortage.

Dr. Rachael Whittaker, who grew up in Alexandria where medical care required hour-long drives to Cincinnati, now works in the emergency department at Med Center Health in Bowling Green. Dr. Amanda McGeorge practices primary care in Scottsville, less than an hour from where she grew up in Monroe County, while Dr. Luke Gaskin joined the emergency department of a community hospital in Greenville after completing his residency in Arkansas.

Their decisions to practice in rural communities reflect shared experiences of navigating long distances for care in their youth. McGeorge said family members struggled to access treatment close to home, a challenge that motivated her path to medicine. "There's something really special about caring for people who remind you of where you came from," Whittaker said.

The Bowling Green campus, established in 2018 as a partnership between UK, Western Kentucky University and Med Center Health, enrolled 30 students in its inaugural class with the explicit goal of strengthening Kentucky's physician workforce in underserved areas. The intimate educational model distinguished the regional campus from larger medical schools, with students often working one-on-one with physicians rather than competing with residents for clinical experience.

Kentucky faces acute physician shortages, particularly in rural communities. More than 100 of Kentucky's 120 counties are designated as health professional shortage areas, and only about 17 percent of the state's primary-care physicians practice in rural areas where roughly 40 percent of Kentuckians live. The state is projected to face a shortage of nearly 3,000 physicians by 2030.

The UK College of Medicine now operates four regional campuses in Bowling Green, Lexington, Morehead, and Northern Kentucky, unified by a single curriculum but tailored to address workforce needs unique to each region. Medical education experts note that students who train in their home communities are significantly more likely to practice there.