SAVANNAH – Jake Elliott of Guyton was recently accepted to the Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM) Primary Care Accelerated Track (ACT) Program, announced MUSM Dean Jean Sumner, M.D., FACP.

The Primary Care ACT Program allows students interested in a career in family medicine, general internal medicine or pediatrics to have the opportunity to complete their medical school coursework in an accelerated three-year program of study.

Scholarships are awarded to highly-qualified medical students upon the completion of their first year of medical school and cover tuition for the second and third years. These students must be in good academic standing and have a strong desire to practice primary care in a rural area.

After graduation, ACT Scholars are guaranteed a residency with one of MUSM’s primary teaching hospital partners. Upon completion of residency, Scholars are required to participate in three years of continuous, full-time, primary care medical practice in a medically underserved or rural area of Georgia. The practice must also accept Medicaid patients.

“This is an outstanding program that enables qualified students to accelerate their education, decrease their debt and enter the workforce sooner without sacrificing quality,” said Sumner. “This program wouldn’t be possible without the strong support and leadership of Georgia’s state legislature and governor.”

Elliott is proud to support Mercer’s mission to place physicians in rural and medically underserved areas through the Accelerated Track Program. He plans to return to Effingham County, his home since he was 3 years old, to serve the community as an internist.

“I am grateful to be a part of the ACT Program,” he said. “It is going to help me become a great primary care physician and get me doing what I love and serving where I am needed faster than otherwise possible.”