JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Sweeping federal cuts are impacting dozens of students here in the Capital City.
For some students at Tougaloo College when they enroll next fall, they won’t have their scholarships.
It’s all due to funding cuts at the National Institute of Health, resulting in research grants being cancelled.
In all, 36 students will no longer be able to receive scholarships through the Jackson Heart Study Scholars program.
The Jackson Heart Study is a collab between Tougaloo College, Jackson State University, and the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
Funding is now being stripped from all three institutions.
It’s purpose was to study and improve heart health in the African American community.
“My reaction is that I was very, very shocked. Speechless,” said Dr, Kisa Harris, who first started with the Jackson Heart Study as a high school student and now works at Tougaloo College. “Through that experience, I had the opportunity to do research both on campus and off campus. I even had the chance to travel to Buffalo, New York to do research.”
This year marks the 25th year the college offered scholarships to students through the program.
Leaders on campus, as well as current and former students, expressed their disappointed knowing these scholarship dollars, and the opportunity to enroll in the program, are now being taken away.
“This is definitely a legacy program,” Dr. Harris explained. “We have had several of our current students who have had family members translate through the program, or matriculate through the program. They’re upset because, again, they’ve heard and seen all the good things that students who’ve come through this program have accomplished. They’re just very upset.”
“It’s also a disservice to those students as well due to the fact they may not have another gateway into either medicine or research, nor may they learn the importance of those aspects for anything related to health,” said Dr. Breland Crudup, who received a scholarship through the program and graduated from Tougaloo College.
Tougaloo College students received the news on Monday from Dr. Wendy White, Principal Investigator and Director of the Jackson Heart Study Undergraduate Training and Education center at Tougaloo College.
“When I had to tell the students, that tugged at me a little, it did,” Dr. White recalled. “I’m still rebounding from it. These are young people who are positive. They believe in the goodness of the world. They believe in everything that can be done to help. For this to happen to them, it’s just devastating.”
When it comes to Tougaloo College, the Undergraduate Training and Education Center sponsors two programs: the Scholars Program for undergraduate students and the SLAM Program for high school students.
“The Jackson Heart Study was actually one of the first true exposures I had to medicine,” said Dr. Crudup. “I’m a product of the Jackson Heart Study. I know first-hand the good it has done, not only for the people of Jackson, but also for Mississippi as a whole and Black Americans as a whole in the state of Mississippi.”
Since 1999 – 2024, 315 scholars have been selected to participate in the JHS Scholars Program.
Of that number, 215 graduated scholars, 56 have gone to medical/dental school, 118 to graduate and other professional schools, and 41 have joined the workforce.
Nine former JHS scholars have been chief residents, two are cardiologists and one is a cardiothoracic surgeon.
Forty alumni JHS scholars have earned MPH degrees and fifteen have nursing degrees. Thirty-three of the former scholars work in education/teaching related fields.
Since 1999, 1,376 high school students have participated in SLAM workshops, which has resulted in 1,500 student encounters.
Of the 1,376 students who attended the SLAM program between 1999 and 2024, 210 (15%) attended SLAM for three consecutive workshops (SLAM I, II, and III).
A total of 34 SLAM students have enrolled in Tougaloo College and participated in the JHS Scholar Program.
Though Jackson Heart Study is being dissolved, Dr. White said their support for the students will still remain.
“We are still going to support them,” Dr. White expressed. “We’re still going to track them, because this legacy will not end, it’s going to continue. We built something inside of them that will not be taken away.”
It’s not just the students being impacted, five full-time staff workers who work with the program will be losing their jobs as well due to these budget cuts.
This year marks the 25th year the college offered scholarships to students through the program.
August 12th will be the last day for the program.
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