Ashton Glover Gatewood decided to give medical school a second try after learning about a new campus designed for Indigenous students like herself. Gatewood is now set to be part of the first graduating class at Oklahoma State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation. Leaders say the physician training program is the only one on a Native American reservation and affiliated with a tribal government.

The program in Tahlequah, the capital of the Cherokee Nation, aims to increase the number of Cherokee and other Indigenous physicians. It’s also focused on expanding the number of doctors from all backgrounds who serve rural or tribal communities.