Summerford selected for medical honor

By By Special to the Enquirer
Ross Summerford of Falkville, was chosen as a University of Alabama Rural Medical Scholar this year and entered the premed year of the program this fall at UA. The Rural Medical Scholars Program (RMSP is a five-year medical education program leading to the M.D. degree.
Summerford is the son of Robert and Dana Summerford and graduated third in his 2004 class at Falkville High School. He entered The University of Alabama Honors Program and graduated summa cum laude in May 2008, earning a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in business. At UA, he was a member of Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society and was admitted to Golden Key International Honor Society. He was also a member of “Mark’s Madness,” the students’ booster club for the Crimson Tide basketball team, and played intramural football, basketball and softball as well as church league softball and men’s league basketball.
Smmerford has been an active volunteer in community and church activities as well. Since 2001, he has participated in “Hunters Helping the Hungry” in which venison donated by hunters to local food banks is used to feed needy people. He has also volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, the American Cancer Society “Relay for Life” (Tuscaloosa County), March of Dimes “WalkAmerica,” and Community Soup Bowl. He works with several ministries of Calvary Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, including the college choir “Facedown,” Relate PM, The Well and Full Court, which mentors children by involving them in basketball and Bible study.
Summerford grew up on a 2500-acre cattle farm with responsibility for feeding the cows, hauling hay, building fences, and, when he was older, vaccinating the cattle to prevent diseases.
He also spent time in recreation activities with the residents of Summerford Nursing Home in Falkville, a health care facility owned and operated by his father and mother, who is a registered nurse. Summerford and his twin brother operated a summer grass-mowing business, sometimes cutting yards for elderly residents for no charge. Summerford has worked as a camp counselor, phlebotomist at the nursing home and at Tuskaloosa Internal Medicine, and as a farm worker. He said his childhood relationships with patients at the nursing home plus his varied work and volunteer experiences have allowed him to interact with people of all ages and different ethnic and economic backgrounds.
Summerford looks forward to becoming a doctor in his hometown and caring for the people of Falkville and neighboring towns as well as the residents in his father’s nursing home. He says, “I feel that I can have a greater impact by practicing medicine in a rural area.