The University of Toledo

UT and ProMedica Join Hands for New Scholarship

In support of their shared commitment to strengthening health care services in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, The University of Toledo and ProMedica recently announced their establishment of the Better Together Scholarship.

The joint scholarship program is another step in recent collaboration between the two organizations. In 2010, they established the Academic Health Center, a relationship intended to enhance clinical education and research in the community and help ensure that a new generation of health care professionals will be ready to care for community members in the decades ahead.

The new scholarship was initiated by a $500,000 gift by ProMedica to the UT Foundation. The goal is to promote and improve recruitment and retention of regional health care providers through scholarships to outstanding local students accepted into UT’s College of Medicine.

The scholarship will provide a minimum of $25,000 per year to each of eight students. (Two additional renewable scholarships will be offered annually.) Recipients must be permanent residents in a 27-county region, who demonstrate an intent to return to the region after they complete their medical training.

In addition to providing financial assistance to the students, the two institutions will develop a community-based mentoring program, to help nurture and maintain the students’ connection to the community.

UT and ProMedica have committed to raising a total of $5 million for the scholarship program, with contributions from alumni, friends and organizations being key to the goal.

“ProMedica and The University of Toledo have been focused on creating and enhancing relationships within education and research that will strengthen both organizations,” said Dr. Jeffrey Gold, UT chancellor, executive vice president for biosciences and health affairs, and dean of the College of Medicine and Life Sciences.

“These efforts are leading the development of a more sustainable, more vibrant and robust health care community that will result in increased clinical excellence throughout the region,” he said.

On average, U.S. medical students have accumulated more than $150,000 in debt, noted Dr. Gold. As the nation and region face a physician shortage, providing financial assistance for future doctors willing to practice in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan is an important incentive.

“The Better Together Scholarship Fund is an example of how the vision of the alliance between The University of Toledo and ProMedica is quickly being realized,” said Randy Oostra, president and CEO of ProMedica. “We are investing in the future of our community by recruiting and retaining the best and the brightest who are preparing for a career in health care, as we continue to build on the momentum of the relationship between our two organizations.”

 

       For more information about supporting the Better Together Scholarship, contact Howard Newman, associate vice president for development, at howard.newman@utoledo.edu or 419-383-6840.