The new Inland Empire Regional Hub for Healthcare Opportunity (RHHO) brings together partners across Riverside and San Bernardino Counties to address the physician shortages in this region by training culturally competent medical students to serve our communities. The Inland Empire RHHO is launching a new pathway program from community college to medical school -- California Medicine Scholars Program (CMSP).

The program was developed in response to California's lack of a comprehensive strategy throughout its higher education system to create a pathway for a diversified physician workforce. California’s vulnerable communities overwhelmingly reside in health professional shortage areas like the Inland Southern California region, rural communities, as well as low socio-economic urban micro-communities. These are the communities targeted by CMPS, a structured pathway that taps into the diversity of the California Community Colleges to support and increase the numbers of underrepresented minority physicians. 

In addition to supporting students by developing comprehensive individualized educational plans, the Inland Empire RHHO will supplement existing services and resources in the region to provide academic advising, transfer success workshops for each stage of a student's educational path, summer experiences, and mentorship. CMSP scholars will participate in the UC Riverside School of Medicine Future Physician Leaders summer program beginning in their first year of the program. They will work in teams and develop a health education project to address inequities within the Inland Empire. The following summer, students will graduate with an independent experience at one of our community-based partner sites.