East Greenwich High School students interested in medicine now have a dedicated pathway to pursue it, as the East Greenwich School Department has launched Rhode Island's first Pre-Medicine Career and Technical Education program. The initiative pairs classroom instruction with hands-on healthcare training, backed by new equipment, expanded partnerships, and federal grant money aimed at building the state's future medical workforce.
The district describes the program as launching the state's first Pre-Medicine CTE track, according to East Greenwich High School. As reported by Providence Business News, the program includes partnerships with Brown University Health, the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, the University of Rhode Island College of Health Sciences, and the New England Institute of Technology, with those partnerships expected to give students clinical and other hands-on learning opportunities.
Funding for the buildout is tied to the federal Rural Health Transformation Program. The district's own webpage puts the award at $710,000 from the grant, administered through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, per East Greenwich High School. East Greenwich School Committee minutes from September 15, however, list the figure as $710,619 awarded through the same federal program — a discrepancy between the two district records that has not been resolved.
What the Grant Money Is Buying
School committee records lay out three goals for the grant-supported project: modernizing science and healthcare learning environments, purchasing medical simulation equipment and technology, and expanding work-based learning opportunities and healthcare credentials, according to the East Greenwich School Committee minutes. Committee members also noted that East Greenwich's state-approved pre-medical CTE program made the district competitive for the grant in the first place, per the same minutes.
Some of that spending has already been approved. The School Committee signed off on $296,096 in classroom enhancements at the high school tied to the grant, naming Martone Construction for the work, the minutes show. Committee members separately approved a sole-source purchase of a 3D anatomy table from Anatomage for $105,605, according to the same record.
That anatomy table is a life-sized, three-dimensional platform that school officials plan to use in anatomy and physiology classes, Providence Business News reports. Frank Lenox, the school's science chair, said the grant supports expanded hands-on learning and healthcare simulations and gives students the chance to earn industry credentials, according to the outlet. Beyond the anatomy table, grant funding is also expected to purchase additional medical simulation equipment and artificial intelligence-supported clinical learning tools, per the same report.
Expanding Beyond the High School
The program's reach extends past East Greenwich High School's hallways. Providence Business News reports the initiative will introduce healthcare career exploration as early as kindergarten, continuing through eighth grade, alongside plans to modernize healthcare-related learning spaces at the high school and expand work-based learning experiences for students interested in medical careers.
East Greenwich High School Principal Patricia Page said the program is intended to expand student exposure to healthcare careers through instruction, technology, and partnerships, according to Providence Business News. Thomas Kenworthy said the initiative is designed to strengthen connections among K-12 education, higher education institutions, and healthcare organizations, and that the investment advances preparation for students' future careers, the outlet reports. Kenworthy also said the effort is intended to help address healthcare workforce needs, per the same report.
A Statewide Workforce Push
Dr. Patrick Vivier, dean of the University of Rhode Island College of Health Sciences, said high-school healthcare education programs can help address workforce shortages in Rhode Island, according to Providence Business News. The East Greenwich grant is part of a broader statewide effort — Gov. Daniel J. McKee's administration awarded more than $5.48 million to 14 local education authorities across Rhode Island as part of a wider initiative to expand healthcare-focused CTE programs, the outlet reports.
That statewide push comes amid rapid growth in career and technical education participation. Rhode Island CTE programs enrolled 19,483 secondary students during the 2022-23 academic year, according to the Rhode Island Department of Education, as cited by the East Greenwich Pendulum. CTE concentrators posted a 91.7 percent four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate that year, substantially outpacing the state's overall graduation rate of roughly 83.3 percent, the paper reports, and more than 1,600 secondary CTE concentrators graduated with work-based learning experience in that same period.
Other Rhode Island districts have pursued similar healthcare-education investments. South Kingstown's district recently received a Champlin Foundation grant to purchase its own Anatomage Table for allied health and biomedical programs, with CTE participation at South Kingstown High School reaching 44 percent of the student body, up from 35 percent in 2023, per the Pendulum. Narragansett High School, meanwhile, reported that more than 95 percent of its students enroll in at least one CTE course, and the district was awarded a $250,000 CTE grant from the Rhode Island Department of Education in April 2025 for a marine professions program, the outlet notes.
A Separate Apprenticeship Model
Rhode Island's healthcare workforce pipeline extends beyond high schools, too. New England Institute of Technology, Brown University Health, and Building Futures launched the state's first registered apprenticeship program for surgical technologists, combining classroom instruction at NEIT with paid, experiential training and clinical placements at Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital, according to New England Institute of Technology. The program offers a pathway to an associate degree and national certification, and NEIT said all participants in its first cohort passed the national certification exam — a field the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects will grow 6 percent through 2033, per the same source.
The Rural Health Transformation Program backing East Greenwich's grant is itself part of a larger federal commitment. Rhode Island's five-year share of the program totals an initial $156.17 million, with workforce development listed among the investments funded across the broader grant, according to Rhode Island Current.
