By Satina Richardson | UAB News
Malia McDowell, O.D., a 2026 graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry, is the first recipient of the Rural Optometry Scholarship from the Alabama Board of Optometric Scholarship and Loan Awards. She has received $134,000 to practice in an underserved rural community in Alabama.
McDowell will be moving to Valley, Alabama, to establish a practice as an independent optometrist at a Walmart Supercenter. The area has more than 34,000 residents and is considered critically underserved, with only a part-time optometrist currently providing care.
Service-oriented from the start
McDowell’s commitment to serving through her education and beyond began when she was in high school. In high school, she participated in two cultural immersion trips involving volunteer projects in Costa Rica and Peru, where she saw extreme poverty for the first time.
During the COVID-19 pandemic as an undergraduate and throughout optometry school, McDowell continued to serve. While in optometry school, McDowell juggled classes, board examines, volunteering and rigorous scholarship interviews.
“In optometry school, if I had the time available, I was volunteering, from establishing and participating in vision screenings and mission trips to becoming an Albert Schweitzer Foundation of Alabama Fellow,” McDowell said.
Albert Schweitzer Fellows are graduate optometry students who design and carry out community service projects that address unmet health needs. McDowell chose the Community of Hope Health Clinic as her project site. Established by two retired UAB Optometry alumni, the practice serves Shelby County patients who live below the federal poverty level and lack access to insurance.
McDowell joined during her fellowship year to help enhance patient care.
Through McDowell’s involvement in the School of Optometry’s Private Practice Club, she met alumni who work in small communities. These alumni expressed a strong sense of fulfillment and spoke highly of their careers to McDowell. Support from McDowell’s fiancé further reinforced her commitment to practicing in a rural area.
“Receiving the scholarship didn’t make our decision; it confirmed it. My fiancé and I always talk about how comfortable things are in the places we know. Sometimes, if you don’t jump, you may never, and I am beyond blessed to take this leap.” “Each experience deepened my passion to serve others and led me to apply to this program,” McDowell said.
A scholarship to meet a need
There is a growing need for eye care in rural communities across the state, and the Rural Optometry Scholarship aims to address that need through McDowell’s work in rural Alabama.
“Many smaller towns have limited access to optometric services, and in some areas, patients must travel significant distances for routine eye care,” said Lynn Hammonds, O.D., School of Optometry alumna and Alabama Board of Optometric Scholarship and Loan Awards chair. “This scholarship is designed to encourage new graduates to consider practicing in these communities by helping offset some of the financial burden they face as they begin their careers.”
McDowell completed a rigorous application and interview process. A list of qualifying counties is provided to ensure that scholarship applicants select an area that is statistically proven to be in need.
“When I think about why I applied for this scholarship, I think about the countless hours of volunteer work that made me who I am today,” she said. “In early middle school, my mom used to drag me out of bed on Saturdays at 5 a.m. to volunteer. I remember crawling around cold community center floors, organizing fruits and vegetables for families.”
Despite McDowell’s busy schedule, she and her fiancé still found time to imagine daily life in Chambers County.
“We were looking for a place to potentially call our forever home, and Chambers County stood out immediately,” she said. “The Walmart location had gone years without an optometrist, and the need was clear. So, we visited; then we visited again.”
Expanding access to vision care
McDowell, originally from Clarksville, Tennessee, will be moving with her new husband to Valley for at least six years. McDowell plans to use a portion of the scholarship to build the foundation of her practice, including establishing an electronic health record system, scheduling software and hiring staff.
“We hope Malia will become an integral part of our community by providing much needed access to comprehensive eye care,” Hammonds said. “In rural areas, optometrists are often the primary providers of vision care, early disease detection and ongoing eye health management. We believe Malia will serve patients clinically, while building relationships, improving health outcomes and helping ensure that residents in her community have consistent access to high-quality vision care.”
