The Loyola medical community: Medical student scholarships
Attending medical school is often a dream come true, a goal that requires diligent labor to achieve, the beginning of a lifetime of commitment to others. The hours of study, the pressure to perform, and the anxiety of medical decision-making can take a significant toll on students. The monetary costs of medical school compound that stress exponentially and sometimes play a role in a student's selection of a specialty or practice location upon graduation.
Tuition at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine (Stritch) is currently $36,600 per year, a cost consistent with private medical schools in the Chicago area. Costs for housing, insurance, food, books, transportation, utilities, and fees can easily bring total annual expenses to $50,000. This often leaves graduating physicians with significant debt before earning their first paycheck.
Beginning with the 2007-08 academic year, Stritch students had the opportunity to earn a generous scholarship to alleviate some of the financial pressure associated with medical school.
In honor of his years of service and dedication as the president and CEO of Loyola University Medical Center, the Anthony L. Barbato, MD, Medical Student Scholarship Fund was established.
"We hope to create an $8 million endowment that will provide four-year scholarships to two students from each class," says Loyola President Michael J. Garanzini, S.J. "This kind of program is absolutely mission-centric for us, and it's also a great way to honor Tony Barbato." The fund is a permanent endowment that provides scholarships of up to $25,000 annually to full-time students enrolled at Stritch. "From the time he entered the freshman class at Stritch in 1966, until his retirement following 17 years as president and CEO, Tony Barbato has personified the Jesuit values of commitment to justice, service to others, and lifelong learning," adds Father Garanzini.
A scholarship committee including physicians and representatives from admissions, academic affairs, and financial aid, reviewed each student's academic record, financial need and overall admissions application. In addition, the committee sought persons of high moral standing and integrity who have demonstrated scholarship, leadership, and service activities--requirements of the scholarship fund. "The type of student we want here at Stritch is someone who, above all else, has the idea of service behind him or her," says John M. Lee, MD, PhD, dean, Stritch School of Medicine.
The first recipients of the Barbato scholarship were Eli J. Horn and Eve Ladwig-Scott, now second-year medical students. Horn, a Minnesota native and graduate of Bethel University in St. Paul, earned a dual bachelor's degree in physics and philosophy. While completing his undergraduate work, he participated in service trips to West Virginia and South Dakota. After graduating, he married and worked in a group home for disabled adults. He and his wife became interested in medical missions, and he deferred going to medical school so they could travel to Cameroon, in Central West Africa. There, they spent approximately four months working as volunteers at a small clinic serving the local population and another month working in a bush hospital that served the region's cattle herders. Horn is still undecided about where and what type of medicine he hopes to practice, but believes that primary care or general surgery would allow him to best help underserved populations in Africa, in Central America, or wherever a door might open. In his words, "The financial freedom of the scholarship is huge; it allows me to choose my specialty and where I practice based on what I feel is the best use of my gifts and talents."
Ladwig-Scott is a self-defined "non-traditional student." After a long hiatus during which she married, had two children (now ages 12 and 14), worked in the environmental non-profit field, became a doula, helped to open a rural perinatal health clinic, and helped start a volunteer doula program at a local hospital, she finally returned to school to complete a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of California at Davis (UCD). Ladwig-Scott was also involved in research activities while at UCD and worked in research for one year before coming to Stritch."
"Everyone I met at Stritch was warm and friendly, and I could tell they cared about my family life," says Ladwig-Scott. "At my interview, we discussed how we could help my family assimilate. Their support for the non-traditional student is immense."
If additional resources are identified, the scholarships offered to Horn and Ladwig-Scott will be renewed in their second, third, and fourth years of medical school. Two additional scholarships may be awarded to second-year students later this year, also pending fund availability.
Both organizations and individual donors provided the seed money for the fund. Loyola University Chicago, Stritch, and the Loyola University Physicians Foundation each contributed $1 million to the fund while the medical/dental staff made a $50,000 gift in honor of Dr. Barbato. Daniel J. Walsh, chair of the Loyola University Health System's board of directors, and his wife, Patty, have pledged $1 million. Board member James Dowdle and his wife, Sally, have given $200,000, and board member Nancy Knowles has made a gift of $250,000. "We wanted to do something for education, something other than bricks and mortar. The respect we had for Tony made it an easy thing to do," remarks Walsh.
"The Jesuit mission of service to others and striving for excellence in all that you do are hallmarks of Dr. Barbato's life and this institution," explains Father Garanzini. "There would be nothing he would like more than to have medical students supported in his name."
