Awards support local students seeking careers in medicine

Several local students with ambitions of becoming doctors are heading off to medical school and college with well-deserved financial help form the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF).

As part of our commitment to support future generations of doctors, PAMF's Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center and the Central Coast Alliance for Health recently awarded a two-year, $5,000 scholarship ($10,000 total) to local student Brittany Guest. This award supports future doctors who have an interest in and commitment to providing primary care to the underserved community, including Medi-Cal and Medicare patients.

Guest is a 2009 Health Sciences graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz who plans to become an obstetrician/gynecologist and use her Spanish-language skills to better connect with patients. She plans to return to the Central Coast after completing medical school and training.

Three local high school students—Bryan Alas from Eastside College Preparatory School, Eduardo Bent from Mountain View High School and Stephen Durdle from Menlo-Atherton High School—received PAMF's Pre-Medical Scholarship to help pay for their undergraduate studies. The scholarship, established in 1993 and funded by PAMF physicians, provides $5,000 a year (a total of $20,000) to students in the communities PAMF serves who attend a four-year college and plan to pursue careers as doctors.

Alas will attend the University of California, Berkeley; Bent will attend Santa Clara University; and Durdle will attend the University of California, Davis. Unlike most other scholarships, which are one-time awards, the PAMF scholarship repeats for all four years of college, providing students who might not otherwise be able to afford college with the opportunities to fulfill their dreams and give back to their communities.

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