Scholarship program celebrates a milestone, unveils virtual Wall of Honor

By Kathy McCarthy
Executive Director, TAFP Foundation

The TAFP Foundation awarded its 100th scholarship to a medical student this summer, 15 years after the first scholarship was awarded. The fundraising began almost 20 years ago and the Foundation Board of Trustees, local chapters and individual donors have much to be proud of. I’ve prepared a little history and some updates on the program. Thank you to all who have donated over the years and please continue giving. Through your generosity we are able to increase the amount of the awards to try to keep pace with the high cost of medical education.

In the early 1990s, the TAFP Foundation began developing medical student scholarships. Our first step was to designate general funds to create the Weldon G. Kolb, M.D. Medical Student Scholarship to honor its namesake, a TAFP and TAFP Foundation past president, and benefit medical students at UTMB Galveston. We held a fundraising dinner and solicited local chapter support, and the train was out of the station! Local chapters across the state began efforts to raise funds to honor their local leaders and provide incentives to students at local medical schools who show an interest in family medicine.

From the start, the TAFP-F structured the funds with an eye toward the future. Each scholarship had to have $25,000 in donations or Board-designated funds before scholarships were awarded, and the award amount was limited to $1,000 at the beginning and is now 5 percent of the fund each year to ensure the fund’s accrued interest will replenish the scholarships awarded.

Beginning with the Kolb scholarship in Galveston, the Foundation quickly added the William F. Ross, M.D. scholarship for UT Southwestern in Dallas, the S. Perry Post, M.D. scholarship for UT Health Science Center in San Antonio, the Harold Pruessner, M.D. scholarship for UT Houston and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and the Norma Porres, M.D. and Felipe Porres, M.D. scholarship for Texas Tech University in Lubbock. We have since added scholarship funds untied from specific medical schools and set with other criteria. For example, the Valley Chapter scholarship benefits students from the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and the Arnold Krause, M.D. scholarship was established by the Tarrant County Chapter to benefit students with a connection to Tarrant County. Fundraising has been a cooperative effort with local chapters and the families of the honored leaders. At the end of the TAFP Foundation’s 2008 fiscal year, the scholarship endowment was valued at $988,000.

The scholarship funds began to pay out in 1994 with the first recipients of the Ross and Porres scholarships receiving $1,000 each. Most are awarded to third-year medical students who demonstrate an interest in family medicine and meet high academic goals. Many are chosen locally by members of the local chapter and faculty from the medical school. Some are presented at local meetings and some are honored at TAFP’s Annual Session.

A few years ago, the Foundation Board of Trustees questioned whether the scholarship recipients chose to practice in the specialty, which was an integral part of the program’s original mission. We began searching for the recipients and tracking our success each year. As of February 2009, 95 medical student scholarships had been awarded. Over half of the recipients were still in training, but of those out of medical school, 83 percent were in family medicine residencies or practicing family medicine. Almost three-quarters of those in family medicine are still in Texas. We break down the results by scholarship and have noted that one scholarship selection committee had a particularly poor track record in the 1990s. However, six of the funds have 100 percent of their recipients in family medicine residencies or practicing family medicine. Considering that most are awarded before the match, we are pleased with these results and expect our success to improve in the future.

To celebrate the milestones and to continue honoring the recipients and the namesakes, we have created a virtual “Wall of Honor.” I invite you to take a look at it to see what we have accomplished over the past 15 years. It showcases the respected leaders who inspired generous donations and the recipients who have gone on to try to fill their shoes. Go to www.tafp.org/foundation.