Scholarships: Paving a Path to the Future

Media reports document the shortage of doctors, nurse and other medical professionals in California, but for years, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) has been furthering students' medical ambitions and funding college admissions through a variety of scholarship programs.

In Santa Cruz, PAMF offers a scholarship for graduates of the University of California, Santa Cruz who plan to enter medical school. For a third year, the Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center, along with the Central Coast Alliance for Health Alliance, awarded a $10,000 scholarship. The award supports a graduating senior with a major in health sciences who, after graduating, returns to the Central Coast to provide primary care for Medi-Cal patients.

Every year for more than 40 years, PAMF has sponsored the Medical Explorer program, which was started in 1963 by Joseph Davis, M.D., a former head of pediatrics in the Palo Alto Center, as a way to help local students learn more about medicine.

PAMF's affiliated physicians awarded three local high school students a PAMF Pre-Medical Scholarship to help pay for their undergraduate studies. Established in 1993, this scholarship 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. Unlike most other scholarships, which are one-time awards, the PAMF scholarship repeats for all four years of college.

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