Kaiser Permanente Awards $70,000 in Scholarships
PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Future physicians who are dedicated to promoting and advancing culturally responsive care in Southern California are being recognized today with the 2011 Kaiser Permanente Southern California Oliver Goldsmith, MD, Scholarship.
This year, 14 second and third year medical school students who plan to practice in Southern California were selected based on their ongoing community service at organizations dedicated to eradicating health disparities and providing access to underserved communities.
Christian Strong from South Los Angeles is attending Harvard Medical School. He entered Harvard University at 16 and graduated with honors after skipping a year. His driving force comes from personally experiencing how neurological diseases have affected his family. “Seeing the disease as it progresses, especially in the African American and Latino communities, has inspired me to be the best clinician, teacher, and researcher and to focus on alleviating the health challenges people with neurological conditions face,” says Strong.
“These students have already made major contributions to culturally responsive care in their communities,” said Jeffrey Weisz, MD, medical director for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. “We are proud to recognize these students for their community service, research, and clinical volunteering and welcome them into the Kaiser Permanente mentoring program.”
Connie Gomez, MD, received this scholarship in 2006. “In addition to helping offset the cost of my medical education, I was mentored by Glen Barbee, MD, Kaiser Permanente physician. Through his career guidance and my opportunity to complete a rotation at the Tustin-Santa Ana clinic, I was exposed to excellent preventive, community and evidence-based health care. As I near the end of my Family Medicine Residency at Kaiser Permanente in Orange County, I am very excited to be staying on as an associate physician,” says Dr. Gomez.
The $5,000 Oliver Goldsmith, MD, Scholarship award also includes the opportunity to observe practicing physicians delivering culturally responsive care through a 4 to 6 week clinical rotation at a Kaiser Permanente facility. Since the program was established in 2004, 80 scholarships totaling $400,000 in community benefit funds have been provided to assist medical students in completing their educational goals.
The medical students will be honored Thursday, June 2, 2011 at McCormick & Schmick’s (111 N. Los Robles, Pasadena, CA 91101) from 5pm – 6:30pm. Students are available for interviews.
About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 3.4 million members in Southern California. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.
CONTACT:
Kaiser Permanente
Southern California Region
Sandra Hernandez-Millett
Office: 626-405-5384
Mobile: 626-696-9051
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