Wellcentive Awards Medical Scholarship to Military Veteran

ATLANTA, June 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Wellcentive, the leader in population health management for value-based care transformation, announced today that it has awarded its inaugural Medical Scholarship for Veterans to Anthony DeSantis, 31, of New Port Richey, Florida, formerly a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. The scholarship gives $5,000 to a military veteran pursuing a career in medicine.

DeSantis served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps. His experiences helping civilians receive medical care in battle-torn areas instilled in him a desire to pursue a career in medicine.

"My time as a Marine showed me the fulfillment that comes from reaching out to those in distress and offering a calm and capable hand," DeSantis said. "By becoming a physician, I hope to spend the rest of my life bringing comfort to as many people as possible."

During his deployment to Fallujah, Iraq, DeSantis witnessed firsthand the good that skilled medical personnel could do for those in need. Watching as his platoon's Navy Hospital Corpsmen rendered aid to local Iraqis and their children and seeing the impact that this service had on his unit's relationship with the local population sparked DeSantis' desire to become a doctor. His unit was deployed to Fallujah in 2007-2008 during a time of rebuilding, and many civilians were still suffering from the effects of years of war. With local medical facilities practically nonexistent, it fell to the American medics and corpsmen to treat the people of the city.

"Before my experiences as a Marine, I didn't realize how much good a well-trained and dedicated healthcare provider could do for those around him or her," DeSantis explained. "My platoon's docs did more to win the hearts and minds of the people of Fallujah than the rest of us combined. When I saw what they were capable of, I knew that I wanted to do the same."

"We are thrilled to award this scholarship to Anthony—someone who has served his country well and is passionate about contributing to the field of medicine," said Tom Zajac, Wellcentive CEO. "Veterans have made great sacrifices to help others. Our hope is that this scholarship will help remove some financial obstacles and allow Anthony to dedicate his time to succeeding academically."

DeSantis is a fourth-year medical student at the University of South Florida's Morsani College of Medicine. Coincidently, he is a 2013-2014 Tillman Military Scholar selected from among 60 military veterans and spouses across the country to receive scholarship money from the Pat Tillman Foundation. 

Journalists: Download the digital photo and caption of Anthony DeSantis accepting Wellcentive's inaugural Medical Scholarship for Veterans' $5,000 check from Wellcentive Chief Product Officer and co-founder Mason Beard and Wellcentive CEO Tom Zajac.

About Wellcentive
Wellcentive's solutions are built from the ground up to help our customers improve quality, optimize revenue, and transform the healthcare process. Our value-driven population health management solution combines our more than 10 years of population health management (PHM) experience with highly scalable cloud-based technology and transformative services to deliver clinical, financial and human outcomes for providers, health organizations, payers and employers. Wellcentive has gained recognition as a leader in population health management in reports by IDC Health, KLAS and Chilmark. We aggregate over one billion data points per month from more than 3,000 interfaces, improving outcomes for over 30 million lives. Visit www.wellcentive.com; follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook; or call 877-213-8456 to learn more.

For more information:
Kaitlin Samples
Wellcentive
678.710.2008
[email protected]

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SOURCE Wellcentive

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