The Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine (MSOM) is offering more than $1.6 million in scholarships to its first class of students, according to an announcement.
The scholarships, which include one full scholarship and 14 partial scholarships, are set to benefit 15 students over the next four years. The inaugural class, comprising 90 students, is expected to begin classes in July.
Funding for these scholarships comes from various sources, including Meritus Health, its leaders and physicians, volunteers and the Washington County Chamber of Commerce.
“We are extraordinarily proud of our health system and business community for stepping up to help our students,” said MSOM President Maulik Joshi in the release. “This group of bright and dedicated young people will be able to focus less on finances and more on training to become physicians who will be socially responsible, professionally accomplished and community oriented.”
Some scholarships are standard grants awarded annually based on merit and financial need, contingent upon students maintaining high performance. Others are structured as forgivable loans, requiring students to work for the health system for a period after graduation.
The Meritus Medical Center Auxiliary established the first scholarship in MSOM’s history, the Meritus Auxiliary Regional Scholars Program. This scholarship covers full tuition over four years, totaling $220,000 for one student.
Auxiliary President Gerry Philp said that the school’s mission to educate more physicians and retain them in the region aligns with the auxiliary’s mission of supporting Meritus Medical Center.
“We thought this was a very good cause,” Philp said. “We had given money to the school in the capital campaign, and we wanted to see it successful, so we thought it would be good to do a full scholarship versus a partial, and we had the funds available to commit.”
Other scholarships include:
This story was created by Janis Reeser, jreeser@gannett.com, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at https://cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct/.
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