Twenty-four new routes to improved healthcare in rural Minnesota
At a new campus in St. Cloud, two dozen medical students supercharge the University of Minnesota’s drive to expand the rural healthcare workforce
Growing up on “the most dangerous turn in the whole county,” Sean Randolph and his family were jolted several times a year by the sound of cars crashing.
In 11th grade, Sierra Bermudez gave birth to the first of her four children.
Both experiences helped set these young people on course to becoming members of the inaugural class of medical students at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s new CentraCare Regional Campus in St. Cloud.
The students’ arrival in August 2025 opened a new dimension in the University of Minnesota’s commitment to the health of rural Minnesotans. The 24 physicians-to-be in the class of 2029 all hail from rural areas around the state, united by a passion to serve people from communities like the ones in which they grew up—where doctors and hospitals were too often stretched too thin.
Through these medical students and those to come, the University and CentraCare, a not-for-profit health system, are flipping that script.
“The University of Minnesota Medical School and CentraCare have made a significant commitment to the healthcare needs of Greater Minnesota,” says Chris Fallert, the inaugural regional campus dean.
Soon, students like Bermudez and Randolph will join the ranks of health professionals turning the University of Minnesota’s commitment to rural health into practice. Here are brief glimpses into their personal journeys.
Image above: UMN Medical School, St. Cloud Campus, July 2025, left to right: Dr. Shailey Prasad, Dean Chris Fallert, Kevin Diebel, Jill Amsberry, Peter Crawford, Rebecca Cunningham, Dr. Greg Beilman, Dean Jakub Tolar.
“This new campus will focus on meeting those needs by prioritizing the training of doctors that will serve rural communities.”
—Chris Fallert, MD, Regional Dean, University of Minnesota CentraCare Regional Campus
Wait till ‘28
With the new campus adding 24 medical students per year, in three years—2028—the number studying there will reach 96. This will increase the total number of medical students at the University of Minnesota by 10 percent.
Deep-rooted commitment
Growing up, Bermudez and Randolph experienced life from widely differing perspectives.
“I wasn’t on the straight and narrow as a teenager at all,” recalls Bermudez, who grew up in the small Sherburne County town of Becker. But her first pregnancy turned her life around and opened the world of medicine to her.
“Everyone on my healthcare team was just super supportive and made me feel super safe and comfortable when a lot of the people around me were really doubting me,” Bermudez says. Her highly skilled primary care obstetrician was University of Minnesota Medical School graduate Kimberly Spaulding, a family medicine doctor with CentraCare.
“She taught me a lot about our bodies,” Bermudez says.
From childhood, Randolph has thought about the healthcare available to his neighbors in the Morrison County hamlet of Bowlus.
For years, he watched his father “hit a full sprint” out the door every time he heard the sound of a car crashing at that dangerous turn.
“There were multiple cases where there were serious injuries,” Randolph recalls. “My dad was part of the first responding team, helping stabilize people before Emergency Medical Services got there.
“I think the kind of man he was … he wasn’t going to let something happen when he had the chance to intervene.”
Rural Health Pop Quiz
In which Minnesota town does Dr. Ed Anderson guide medical students in the Rural Physician Associate Program?
Sebeka
Try reading about “On-the-job training.”
St. Cloud
You really ought to read about “On-the-job training.”
Bigfork
Correct! If this was a guess, see the answers to A or B.
Multiple roads to medicine
When they began medical school in August, Bermudez and Randolph were elated to meet 22 peers who shared their passion for medicine—and with whom they could share their thoughts on the emotional experiences that brought them there.
On the subject of getting accepted to medical school, “I knew I had a long shot,” Bermudez says. “When I got that call, I freaked out.
“I think it’s really good to have this campus at this location because it gives rural Minnesotans a local option to receive a medical education and to have resources nearby to guide and support them in making it happen, while also serving the local communities in need.”
—Sierra Bermudez, first-year medical student at the St. Cloud campus
Randolph, a registered nurse, found meaning and passion in the nursing profession. And while his father’s selfless actions started his journey, “It’s been my work as an RN that has kindled and fed that flame of passion for being able to work and practice in my own community,” he says.
“Nursing school and nursing practice emphasize a holistic practice of medicine, that is, treating a person as a whole. I think that’s fantastic. That’s something I intend to take into my practice as a physician.”
—Sean Randolph, first-year medical student at the St. Cloud campus
Support students like these 24 future doctors
Support the CentraCare St. Cloud Regional Campus, where scholarships help outstanding medical students with financial support. Students like these 24 future doctors need to become the next generation of physicians dedicated to improving health in Minnesota’s rural communities.
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