AMA Foundation Names Minority Scholars Award Recipients

Thirteen outstanding students receive $10,000 scholarships to help with escalating cost of medical school

CHICAGO, June 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In an effort to promote diversity and help with the rapidly rising cost of medical education, the American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation has presented 13 outstanding medical students from across the country with $10,000 Minority Scholars Awards.

The awards recognize scholastic achievement, financial need and personal commitment to improving minority health among first or second-year students in groups defined as "historically underrepresented" in the medical profession. Less than seven percent of U.S. physicians fall within these groups, which include African American/Black, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, Alaska Native and Hispanic/Latino.

"These scholarships provide critical assistance to the most accomplished medical students from across the nation," said Richard Hovland, AMA Foundation President. "Additionally, I am confident these students will play a key role in decreasing health care disparities in the United States – they have made the commitment, through their actions and words, to do so."

As the philanthropic arm of the American Medical Association, the AMA Foundation has made it a priority to help medical students handle the rising cost of their education. On average, future physicians graduate approximately $155,000 in debt, and in many cases the debt load is much higher. A large debt burden may deter many from practicing in underserved areas of the country or practicing primary care medicine.

The Minority Scholars Awards are given in collaboration with the AMA Minority Affairs Consortium, with support from Pfizer Inc. The National Business Group on Health (NBGH) partially supports one scholarship in honor of the late Ronald M. Davis, MD, Past-President of the AMA. This specific Minority Scholars Award is granted to a minority medical student who has an interest in becoming a primary care physician.

The recipients of the awards are:

Crystal Brown, Temple University School of Medicine

Vanessa Cardenas, University of Michigan Medical School

Vanessa Correa, University of California, Riverside/University of California, Los Angeles PRIME

Victor Cueto, Drexel University College of Medicine

Angela Echiverri, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine

Cianna Leatherwood, Keck School of Medicine at University of Southern California

Erica Louden, Wayne State University School of Medicine

Laddy Maisonet, University of Kansas School of Medicine

Kerry-Ann Stewart, Stanford University School of Medicine

Bushra Taha, Harvard Medical School

Micah Treuer, University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth Campus

Omar Washington, University of California, Davis School of Medicine

The recipient of the award funded by the NBGH Ronald M. Davis, MD Memorial Scholarship is:

Lissette Jimenez, University of Washington School of Medicine

The AMA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt foundation, is committed to improving the health of Americans through philanthropic support of quality programs in public health and medical education.

Visit www.amafoundation.org to learn more.

SOURCE American Medical Association Foundation