2026 Recipient

Andrea L. Wendling, College of Human Medicine 

Dr. Andrea Wendling, a professor in the College of Human Medicine’s Department of Family Medicine, is a nationally recognized leader in rural medicine. In 2012, she created the Leadership in Rural Medicine (LRM) Certificate Program, a partnership between MSU and communities across Michigan to help address the shortage of physicians in rural areas. The program recruits students interested in rural medicine and provides them with comprehensive, community-engaged training in rural areas throughout the state. Its goal is for students to develop the confidence, comfort, and professional and personal skills necessary to care for patients in rural and remote areas.

Wendling also developed the Rural Community Health Program (RCHP), which links MSU’s Midland and Saginaw campuses to rural underserved regions of Michigan. RCHP students split their clinical training between their main campus and a single rural educational community.

To encourage students from rural areas to pursue medicine, she developed MSU’s Rural Premedical Internship Program. The summer program offers shadowing experiences, rural community service opportunities, and application and interview skill-building. She has also been instrumental in developing the MSU-affiliated MIDOCS residency programs in underserved rural communities and the Indigenous Pathway Program with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.

Through these initiatives, Wendling has elevated the national reputation of MSU and built lasting community partnerships throughout the state. She continues to practice family medicine in Northern Michigan.