Scholarships

Discover what’s possible

Read these stories to find out more about the impact of University of Minnesota research, education, and care—and how you can help.

fALL 2009

Supporting service

Robert Hart appreciates the value of skilled physicians who genuinely care about their patients. He has been that patient a few times in his life, and he says the care provided at clinics associated with the University of Minnesota is far and away the best he has received.

Couple’s gifts support injury prevention research and education — today and in the future

Curt O’Hagan is fond of remarking that seven years after his diagnosis of primary lateral sclerosis (PLS), a degenerative motor neuron disease similar to the fasterprogressing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease), he is still a pest to his friends and family.

Medical School makes leadership changes

Mark S. Paller, M.D., M.S., a physician and leader in the University of Minnesota’s research efforts for the last 27 years, in July became executive vice dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Stimulating lessons

Efforts by University of Minnesota researchers Christopher Pennell, Ph.D., and Kola Okuyemi, M.D., M.P.H., engage the public in cancer biology merged seamlessly with the goals of St. Louis Park High School teacher Julie Schilz, who hoped to find a way to captivate the minds of her biology students.

‘For generations to come’

When fourth-year medical student Amanda Noska arrived in Haiti in January to study human rights, she found no shortage of issues to address. Noska was in Port-au-Prince for a public health fellowship to learn about the face of HIV and AIDS at a free clinic there.

Mentor program leads to valuable connections

For recent Medical School graduate James Klaas, M.D., the practice of medicine is a lifelong journey. And thanks to his mentor, neurologist Paul Schanfield, M.D., Klaas is certain he’s found the right path.

Scholarship Winner | Rebecca Johnson

Intrigued for years by emergency medicine, fourth-year medical student Rebecca Johnson wasn’t aiming for a career in pathology, but, in retrospect, it seems that’s where all roads led.

School of Nursing celebrates 100 years

Congratulations to the University of Minnesota’s School of Nursing, which is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year. The school, which was established two years before the university’s hospital opened, was the first nursing school in the country to be based at a university and has operated continuously since March 1909.

Spring 2009

Record-breaking Match Day

Eager students from the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Class of 2009 nervously picked at their breakfasts at the McNamara Alumni Center, awaiting the start of this year’s Match Day ceremony. Surrounded by family, friends, and faculty and staff, the students learned where they would complete their medical residency training.

More experience, more confidence

Resident education in the Department of Ophthalmology made a huge leap forward in March with the opening of a new microsurgery practice lab. The lab is now equipped with four stations, each outfitted with an operating microscope that is wired to its own video monitor.

Regents to review realignment of Medical School’s leadership

University President Robert Bruininks, Ph.D., has announced a plan to combine the positions of senior vice president for health sciences with that of dean of the Medical School. The board will consider the plan to appoint Frank Cerra, M.D., the current senior vice president for health sciences.

Anatomy lessons

First-year medical students contemplate a photocopied letter posted outside the gross anatomy labs of the U of M Medical School. The letter is from an anatomical donor who describes her upbringing on a farm, her ambition to become a dietitian, her dark time in an abusive marriage, and her final days as activities leader at a senior center.

Scholarship Winner | Laura Ford-Nathan, M.D.

Laura Ford-Nathan, M.D., knew that she wanted to heal people. As she prepares to embark on a residency in family practice at United Hospital, she reflects on how her school experiences and scholarships helped her achieve her early dream and contemplates her vision for the future.

Winter 2009

Former dean was committed to students, international collaboration

N. L. ( Neal) Gault Jr., M.D., beloved former dean and alumnus of the University of Minnesota Medical School, died December 11 of pancreatic cancer at his St. Paul home. He was 88.

Remembering a trusted adviser

Helene Horwitz, Ph.D., spent her entire career mentoring and helping students. As associate dean for student affairs at the Medical School for the last 19 years, she helped University of Minnesota medical students get through difficult academic, financial, and emotional times.

‘Complementary’ medicine

A yin-yang dynamic makes the Student National Medical Association copresidents more effective as they combat health disparities

Paying it forward: A daughter honors her father with a scholarship that keeps on giving

After John Manning was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and told he had just a few months to live, his daughter, Nancy Wick, spent those months caring for him and learning from his example. He had a lot of integrity and honesty. He showed that integrity throughout his whole life.

Fall 2008

Program of Mortuary Science receives a historic gift as it turns 100

The Medical School’s Program of Mortuary Science turns 100 this year—it’s one of the oldest in the nation—and will mark the special anniversary with a banquet, program, and related activities November 1 at Coffman Memorial Union on the University’s East Bank.

Applying to medical school?
How does your character stack up?

As a St. Olaf College student, Matt Majerus spent a good deal of time not only conducting research in biology and biochemistry but also hanging out at a nearby long-term care facility, volunteering his time and getting to know the residents.

U medical student wins Minority Scholar Award

Liz Medina Alm, a third-year medical student at the University of Minnesota Medical School, is also a mother of two, a mentor to several pre-med students, and a leader in the National Medical Association’s local student chapter—a juggling feat that’s attracted national notice.

Scholarship honors sister’s contributions to public health nutrition

Within about a decade of graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1925 with a degree in home economics, Queneau became the first public health nutritionist for the New York State Department of Health, where she helped build the department’s reputation.

Spring 2008

Minnesota's Future Doctor's program receives $1 million gift

Anonymous donors have made a $1 million gift to the new Minnesota's Future Doctors program, a collaboration of the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic medical schools.

Doing us proud

Emotions—from anxiety to joy to relief—ran high at this year's Match Day ceremony. The 202 students from the Medical School's class of 2008 who matched learned on March 20 where they'd spend the next several years of their medical training.

Alpha Omega Alpha

The condition of American medical education at the turn of the 20th century would shock all but the medical historian. Only a handful of the 155 entities identified as medical schools in the United States offered scientifically based training, or practical clinical rotations.

Medical School establishes nation’s first Surgical Simulation Fellowship

The University of Minnesota Medical School will establish the first Surgical Simulation Fellowship in the country using a $180,000 grant from Gyrus ACMI, a medical device company that specializes in minimally invasive surgery.

Anonymous gift boosts Minnesota’s Future Doctors program

Growing up in a household of modest means, Clemon Dabney had always wanted to be a role model for his siblings. Now he’s preparing to become a doctor, showing his brothers and sisters that they all can make a difference in the world. McCauley’s family fled war-torn Liberia in 2001.

 

Winter 2008

Living on the streets: University students improve health care for the homeless

The clinic, which opened its doors in 2003, is housed in the basement of Oliver Presbyterian Church, located in one of Minneapolis’s poorest neighborhoods. One night a week it offers health care at reduced or no charge to uninsured patients, a significant number of them homeless.

Grants nourish students’ creativity

The Fisch Art of Medicine Student Awards, which allow students to nurture their creative sides by taking clasentors, or simply focusing on an artistic pursuit, are meant to enhance the lifelong connectises, working with mons between the art and science of medicine.

Travel awards to give medical students a chance to study in Israel

For 20 years the Phi Delta Epsilon Fraternity Fund has provided scholarships to medical students at the U of M. Now three Medical School alumni and members of the fraternity are hoping to boost support for the fund and make travel to Israel possible for students for part of their training.

Supporting students

Donors share their motivations for giving to SPH scholarships. Whether it’s honoring a dedicated educator, paying it forward, supporting a longtime interest, donors to the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health (SPH) have many reasons for giving to student scholarships.

 

Fall 2007

The changing face of medicine

Minnesota’s future doctors puts students from underrepresented groups on the medical school track.

Sullivan scholarship surpasses goal

Former students and colleagues of W. Albert Sullivan Jr., M.D., heeded the call when they learned that an anonymous Medical School alumnus had agreed to match up to $106,500 in contributions to the Albert Sullivan Scholarship Fund. Within a year, 535 supporters had made gifts and pledges totaling more than $127,000.

Medtronic grant supports American Indian program

A two-year, $150,000 grant from the Medtronic Foundation will help the University’s Center of American Indian and Minority Health (CAIMH) continue to encourage Native American students to enter careers in medicine.

Mentoring program offers learning opportunities for students and physicians

Less than a year after meeting her mentor through the Connections Physician-Student Mentoring Program, medical student Adrienne Schwartz, M.P.H., found herself working as part of his research team at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center for a summer.

 

Spring 2007

Double the impact

For years, Medical School alumni have been giving back by supporting today’s students through the Medical Student Scholarship Fund, the general scholarship fund held at the Minnesota Medical Foundation.

A sense of community : RPAP students broaden their focus to tackle community health problems in Greater Minnesota

Over the years, the University of Minnesota’s Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP) has received accolades from numerous sources, including the Carnegie Foundation and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Match Day—a different kind of March Madness

I want to welcome you to medicine's March Madness, Medical School Dean Deborah Powell, M.D., told the fourth-year medical students and their families and friends gathered at the McNamara Alumni Center on March 15 for Match Day.

Medical School professors receive Outstanding Community Service Award

Barbara Elliott, Ph.D., a professor of family medicine at the Medical School–Duluth Campus, and Travis Thompson, Ph.D., professor of pediatrics were among five University staff and faculty members who received the University’s prestigious Outstanding Community Service Award.

Otto Bremer Foundation assists Center of American Indian and Minority Health

A two-year, $70,000 grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation will help support a popular Medical School program that encourages American Indian students to enter health-care careers and continues to support them once they’re enrolled.

 

Winter 2007

Tomorrow's topflight physicians

In the world of medicine—populated by bright, dedicated people—the bar for leadership is high. Yet every year a few students at the University of Minnesota Medical School exceed that bar, capturing the attention of their teachers, mentors, and peers.

Body & Soul : The Medical School’s new arts and humanities center aims to feed the soul of those who care for the body

The news from poems—This fragment of a poem by William Carlos Williams would be a perfect medical school course title, says Mary Faith Marshall, Ph.D., director of the new Center for Medical Humanities and the Arts at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

From the heart: a Duluth scholarship

Three years ago, Gregory Schuchard, M.D., took stock of his career and achievements and concluded it was time to act. The 1979 University of Minnesota Medical School graduate made a $100,000 commitment to fund a scholarship for a student who starts medical school in Duluth.

Working for safety: A scholarship supports public health

Quintin Williams is an expert on work. At 20-something, Williams has held more jobs than he can remember. But there’s one job he’ll never forget: the industrial battery factory in Chicago where he suffered serious burns in an explosion of molten lead.

Our list of achievements is 2,200 feet long

The University of Minnesota is celebrating its scholars by putting their accomplishments on display. The University’s Scholars Walk prominently and permanently recognizes the successes of faculty, students, and alumni whose academic endeavors have changed the world.

 

Fall 2006

Quadruple the impact

If you’d like to make a difference for University of Minnesota medical students, now’s a good time to act. Every dollar you donate to the Albert Sullivan Scholarship Fund will be worth four dollars thanks to two matching programs.

Preserving a critical pathway

Recent federal budget cuts threaten a successful University of Minnesota program that has graduated more American Indian physicians than all but one other medical school in this country. The Center of American Indian and Minority Health, located on the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Minneapolis and Duluth campuses.

Medical Student receives Presidential Award

When David Jewison signed up for the University of Minnesota Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), he hoped he’d be able to serve people in a time of need. He never dreamed that his service would be honored by the president of the United States.

Medical School–Duluth department head named ‘Rural Health Hero’

Gary Davis, Ph.D., was recently named a “Rural Health Hero" by his peers at the Minnesota Rural Health Conference in Duluth for his leadership in serving rural communities with mental health consultations via telemedicine.

Medical School gets new director of admissions

Paul T. White, J.D., has joined the Medical School administration as director of admissions. White brings more than 20 years of admissions experience to the University of Minnesota. For the last dozen years, he served at Johns Hopkins University, first as director of admissions and most recently as dean for admissions for the Hopkins School of Medicine.

 

Spring 2006

Does your alma mater matter?

As alumni, you know that our Medical School ranks high in many measures of higher education. But to help the U of M achieve its goal of becoming one of the worlds top three public research universities, our school needs to become even stronger.

The envelope, please

Match Day 2006 portends the future for fourth-year students. It's a rite of spring—and a rite of passage—on every U.S. medical campus. Match Day is the day when fourth-year medical students gather nervously, to simultaneously open small white envelopes that hold important news about the next big step in their medical careers.

University and Mayo Clinic team up for education

The Mayo Clinic has begun sending a third-year ophthalmology resident to the University of Minnesota Department of Ophthalmology’s Minneapolis VA Medical Center rotation. This rotation has been well received by Mayo residents who value the quality of training at the VAMC.

Fulbright scholar from Czech Republic brings research project to Minnesota

Novakova, an obstetrician/gynecologist from 3rd Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Prague, received funding to come to Minnesota under the Proshek-Fulbright Scholarship. The scholarship was established by the estate of Gabriela Proshek to honor her late husband, Charles E. Proshek, M.D.

 

Winter 2006

Backing Minnesota talent

The Dean’s Scholars Society is helping promising students stay close to home. Medical School Dean Deborah Powell admits it: It’s been a while since she was in medical school. Still, she’s definitely in touch with the concerns of today’s medical students. In fact, Powell is tackling one of their biggest concerns—skyrocketing tuition—head on.

National program to promote rural health care access is expanding in Minnesota

The Area Health Education Center (AHEC) network is expanding to central Minnesota. In December, officials with the University’s Academic Health Center selected Fergus Falls as the host community for a new regional AHEC, the third one established in the state since 2002.