Medical students who have an interest in the primary care specialties such as pediatrics, internal medicine, or family and community medicine may apply for the honors program midway through their third year of medical school.
Selection is based on criteria such as leadership and community involvement.
Once selected, students spend one month learning about special healthcare issues such as medical leadership, medical economics, policy issues, and the politics of medicine. Students also may attend relevant medical conferences. The Fourth-Year Primary Care Honors Program is sponsored by the Generalist Physician Initiative of Penn State's College of Medicine and funded, in part, by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The student award is in memory of Thomas V. N. Ballantine, M.D., the founder and former director of the race, who died in 1990. The race is sponsored by College of Medicine students.