UC Davis student receives IHS Health Professions scholarship

Laura Jordan, a third-year medical student at UC Davis, received a Health Professions scholarship from the Indian Health Service (IHS), a federal health program for American Indians and Alaska natives, last month.

The scholarship covers the cost of tuition, required fees and additional education and living expenses for the next two academic years. Health Professions Scholarship Program recipients incur a service obligation of one year for each year of scholarship support, whereby she may elect to work serving the health-care needs of the American Indian population. The mission of the Indian Health Service, which is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, is to raise the physical, mental, social and spiritual health of American Indians and Alaska Natives to the highest level.

Laura Jordan

Jordan, a native of Hoopa in Humboldt County, is a member of the Yurok Tribe of Northern California and grew up on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. Since she was 14, she worked and volunteered her time at K'ima:w Medical Center in Hoopa as the assistant to Medical Director Eva Smith. She graduated from Humboldt State University, majoring in cellular/molecular biology and minoring in chemistry. She is a first-generation college graduate and would like to be a physician, providing health care for the underserved.