Three Texas medical students have each received a $1,000 scholarship from the Texas Medical Association’s 50-Year Club Scholarship Fund in recognition of their outstanding academic performance.
The fund (previously the 50-Year Club Scholarship) was established in 2020 to support medical student scholarships in Texas. Through these scholarship programs, TMA’s 50-Year Club, made up of members who graduated from medical school 50 years ago or longer, has awarded $27,000 to 35 Texas medical students since 2005.
The 2020 50-Year Club Scholarship winners are:
- Quinn Losefsky, a second-year medical student at the University of North Texas Health Science Center Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine;
- Ryan Wealther, a third-year medical student at UT Health San Antonio Long School of Medicine; and
- Michelle Zhang, a fourth-year medical student at The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School.
Ms. Losefsky plans to use her scholarship to purchase NBME STEP-1 study materials. “This opportunity will help me prepare to make a competitive score on my board exam and bring me closer to matching at a great residency program in my future,” Ms. Losefsky said.
Similarly Ms. Zhang’s scholarship will go toward her obstetrician-gynecologist residency program interview costs. “I am grateful to be a recipient of the TMA 50-Year Club Scholarship,” she said. “As a lifelong Texan, I am dedicated to improving the lives and health of the most vulnerable members of our communities.”
Ms. Zhang currently represents Dell Medical School on the TEXPAC board of directors and is the school’s immediate past delegate to the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Medical Student Section assembly.
Mr. Wealther, a former member of TMA’s Committee on Scholarships and Loans, relies almost exclusively on student loans to fund his education. “Medical school is a rewarding, but challenging endeavor, and having to worry less about debt is relieving,” he said.
As a member of TMA’s Medical Student Section executive council, Mr. Wealther has authored resolutions for consideration by TMA’s and AMA’s House of Delegates, and plans to use his scholarship to offset costs to attend advocacy and research conferences.
Learn more about the 2020 winners here. Applications for the 2021 50-Year Club Scholarship Fund will open in July. Three scholarships are awarded annually.
The 50-Year Club Scholarship Fund is one of five scholarships TMA offers to qualified medical students. Contributions to the 50-Year Club Scholarship Fund are tax-deductible. To find out more, email Chris Johnson, program manager of the 50-Year Club Scholarship Fund.