{"id":383,"date":"2021-06-28T04:41:23","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T04:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.hpsa.org\/?page_id=383"},"modified":"2026-05-23T00:13:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T00:13:38","slug":"our-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.hpsa.org\/about-us\/our-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Our History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"hpsa-hero has-image\" style=\"background-image:linear-gradient(115deg, rgba(57, 39, 121, 0.92), rgba(29, 38, 48, 0.72)), url(https:\/\/www.hpsa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Mask-Group-History.jpg);\"><div class=\"hpsa-shell hpsa-hero__inner\"><div><div class=\"hpsa-kicker\">About Us<\/div><h1>Our History<\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"hpsa-section hpsa-shell\"><div class=\"hpsa-section__heading\"><h2>Our vision and mission are based on years of research<\/h2><\/div><div class=\"hpsa-prose\"><p><strong>Founded in 1983 to advance the study and promotion of primary care, our organization has identified that the key to developing the primary care workforce is to start at the high school and college level.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We target our efforts where the research demonstrates we can make the most difference: identifying and assisting undergraduate students that are most likely to practice in health professions pathways.<\/p>\n<p>We provide a variety of services, including the Student Doctor Network community forums, How-To guides, and the Premed Planner application.<\/p>\n<p>From its humble beginnings in 1999, the Student Doctor Network community forums have grown to become the largest community for pre-health and health students across the US and Canada. We have helped hundreds of thousands of students in their quest to become doctors.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"hpsa-section hpsa-shell\"><div class=\"hpsa-section__heading\"><h2>A look at how we\u2019ve grown through the years:<\/h2><\/div><div class=\"hpsa-timeline\"><article class=\"hpsa-timeline__item\"><time>JUL 1983<\/time><p>Coastal Research Group, a 501(c)(3) California nonprofit educational organization was founded by a group of family medicine educators, physicians, residency program directors, and public policy leaders. The mission of the organization was to research and promote family medicine and primary health care access.<\/p>\n<\/article><article class=\"hpsa-timeline__item\"><time>APR 1990<\/time><p>The first Primary Health Care Access (PHCA) Conference was held in the American Club, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<\/article><article class=\"hpsa-timeline__item\"><time>DEC 1999<\/time><p>The Student Doctor Network was founded in Seal Beach, California, with a goal of providing resources for the medical school application process via the internet.<\/p>\n<\/article><article class=\"hpsa-timeline__item\"><time>APR 2002<\/time><p>The Student Doctor Network merged with Coastal Research Group.<\/p>\n<\/article><article class=\"hpsa-timeline__item\"><time>APR 2019<\/time><p>Coastal Research Group held the 30th and final PHCA Conference in Kauai, Hawaii.<\/p>\n<\/article><article class=\"hpsa-timeline__item\"><time>MAY 2020<\/time><p>Coastal Research Group changed its name to \u201cHealth Professional Student Association\u201d to better reflect its focus on increasing access to health care by helping students pursuing health professions careers become health professionals.<\/p>\n<\/article><article class=\"hpsa-timeline__item\"><time>DEC 2021<\/time><p>Activity Finder was announced as an Open Data for Good Grand Challenge winner in the Health and COVID-19 category.<\/p>\n<\/article><article class=\"hpsa-timeline__item\"><time>APR 2022<\/time><p>The inaugural Undergraduate Medical Accelerator Program was held at Tulsa Community College.<\/p>\n<\/article><article class=\"hpsa-timeline__item\"><time>MAY 2022<\/time><p>HPSA launches Becoming a Student Doctor, an online course to help students understand the challenges of healthcare delivery in limited access regions and the academic and professional competencies they need to develop to be successful through their education and career.<\/p>\n<\/article><article class=\"hpsa-timeline__item\"><time>DEC 2024<\/time><p>The Student Doctor Network celebrates 25 years of helping students become doctors, including launching its inaugural Prehealth Scholarship.<\/p>\n<\/article><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Founded in 1983 to advance the study and promotion of primary care, our vision and mission is based on years of research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":749,"parent":368,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-383","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Our History | HPSA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A breakdown of the history of Health Professional Student Association, which started in 1983 as the Coastal Research Group.\" \/>\n<meta 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