Primary Care Scholarships Awarded

Just a few weeks removed from the record-high drawing of the Powerball lottery, a pair of GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) M.D. program Class of 2017 students received substantial prizes of their own: the third annual Primary Care Scholarships.

For third-year students Yodit Beru, M.P.H., and Alexander Sullivan, the slushy Jan. 28 morning began normally with a full-class gathering for their Practice of Medicine course. Unlike the typical day-long workshop, however, this particular class began with rounds of applause from classmates as Beru and Sullivan were awarded their $100,000 scholarships.

The scholarship, now in its third year, was established anonymously by two grateful patients of primary care physician Matthew Mintz, M.D. ’94, RESD ’97, assistant dean for pre-clinical education and associate professor of medicine at SMHS. This year more than a dozen third-year students applied for the award. Selection is based on rigorous criteria including academic standing, commitment to pursuing primary care as a specialty, and debt load.

Both of this year’s recipients discovered their love for the front-line medical specialty as GW Healing Clinic volunteers, Beru serving as a co-clinic manager of the Cheverly Health Center clinic in Prince Georges County Maryland, and Sullivan serving as co-director of provider relations for the Bread for the City clinic in Washington, D.C.’s Shaw Neighborhood.