4 Pre-Med Students Awarded Palo Alto Medical Foundation Scholarships

PALO ALTO, CA – Four recent high school graduates are the latest recipients of college scholarships awarded by Palo Alto Medical Foundation physicians along with community donors. The annual scholarships, created to help meet the need for future physicians, are awarded to deserving local students who are committed to becoming medical doctors.

The students are chosen through a competitive process and will each receive a $25,000 scholarship paid over five years to help cover the costs of four years of undergraduate studies and the first year of medical school.

Since 1993, PAMF physicians have funded and awarded more than 50 scholarships to outstanding local high school students who attend a four-year college and plan to pursue careers as doctors. In addition, PAMF’s philanthropy department has awarded eight scholarships over the past four years thanks to generous community donors. Many of the scholarships have gone to students who were the first in their families to attend a four-year university, including two of this year’s recipients, Jebgy Vargas and Ruben Vargas (no relation).

“PAMF’s scholarship program makes a difference in a few ways,” said Rebecca Leon, M.D., an internist at PAMF and chair of the Palo Alto region Pre-med Scholarship Committee. “It’s helping the medical community to meet a critical need for physicians in the coming years, while supporting gifted and dedicated students who might otherwise have difficulty meeting their academic goals.”

Here are the 2017 award recipients:

Madeline Bright, a Sunnyvale resident and graduate of Homestead High School in Cupertino who will attend the University of California, Davis, received the PAMF Medical Group award.

Mira Lion, a graduate of San Lorenzo Valley High School in Felton who will attend Johns Hopkins University, received the PAMF Scholar Award, funded by community donors.

Jebgy Vargas, a Mountain View resident and graduate of Los Altos High School who will attend Santa Clara University, received the PAMF Medical Group award.

Ruben Vargas, a graduate of Watsonville High School who will attend the University of California, Berkeley, received the PAMF Medical Group award.

The scholarship lessens the financial pressure that can force many students to sacrifice study time to work, or to commute a long distance to save on living costs.

Madeline Bright, who lives in Sunnyvale and hopes to become a pediatric oncologist, wants to keep her debt obligations low now, knowing that the debt from medical school alone can be high. More immediately, she says that “the PAMF scholarship will give me the option of taking an unpaid internship that is meaningful and relevant, rather than taking an unrelated job as a necessity.”

Mira Lion was glad she could afford to choose a college that offers a curriculum in line with her ultimate goal: fighting infectious diseases in the developing world. With a younger brother heading to college in two years, she knows it’s a challenge for her family to cover costs. “I’ll be taking a double major at Johns Hopkins, and working as well, but this scholarship will help me concentrate on my studies and worry less about finances,” she says.

Jebgy Vargas, who plans to major in Biology and hopes to become a pediatrician, says that “the scholarship is helping me to focus on my future instead of worrying about my economic situation. I’ve been able to get a head start over the summer, spending my time studying subjects that I know will be hard, like organic chemistry.”

Ruben Vargas spent part of his childhood in and out of hospitals, which he says led to his interest in medicine. “I’m grateful that I can start college without taking out a loan,” he says, “and that I’ll have the scholarship to help me for four years after that – especially since I have two younger siblings who will need my family’s financial help when they’re ready for college.”

Applications are accepted each year between January and April. High school students who are from the geographic region served by PAMF (Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties), plan to become a physician, are in the top 20 percent of their graduating class and have financial need may apply. Details on the scholarship application process can be found at pamf.org/premedscholar.

About the Palo Alto Medical Foundation

The Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) for Health Care, Research and Education, is part of the Sutter Health network of care. Founded in 1930, PAMF is a not-for-profit health care organization that is a pioneer in the multispecialty group practice of medicine, health innovation and patient-centered care. PAMF's more than 1,400 affiliated physicians and 6,100 employees serve one million patients at its medical centers and clinics in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. For more information about the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, please visit the PAMF website.

– News release and photos via Palo Alto Medical Foundation