On Thursday, November 10, 2022, at the medical school’s annual donor appreciation luncheon held in the ballroom of the Radisson Plaza Hotel at Kalamazoo Center in front of donors, medical students, community leaders, medical school faculty and staff, Dean Paula M. Termuhlen, MD, announced that the medical school will begin raising funds for a new WMed Promise Scholarship. This scholarship will be available to medical students enrolled at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) who are graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) and recipients of The Kalamazoo Promise. The WMed Promise Scholarship is a medical school initiative that is separate and distinct from The Promise and KPS. The fundraising for the WMed Promise Scholarship will be led by the medical school’s Office of Development and Alumni Affairs.
“Kalamazoo has long been recognized as a national leader in supporting higher education with the launch of The Kalamazoo Promise scholarship program more than 16 years ago. Now with the WMed Promise Scholarship we can make a medical education at WMed accessible and more affordable for graduates of KPS,” Dr. Termuhlen said. “Our hope is that these KPS graduates will practice medicine in Kalamazoo after graduation and residency training.”
Dr. Rita Raichoudhuri, superintendent of KPS, and Von Washington, Jr., executive director of Community Relations at The Kalamazoo Promise, said they are excited about this new scholarship program that will offer a financial incentive for students of KPS to apply to the MD degree program at WMed.
“KPS is delighted that graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools will have access to financial resources to support their medical education in our community,” Dr. Raichoudhuri said.
“The medical school’s new initiative will encourage KPS graduates to study medicine in Kalamazoo with the hope that they will stay here as practicing physicians to meet the healthcare needs of our community,” Washington said. “This is yet another reason why Kalamazoo is a great place to learn and to live.”
Dr. Termuhlen told the audience at this year’s donor appreciation luncheon that there are currently two students enrolled at WMed who are KPS graduates and Kalamazoo Promise scholarship recipients.
“We hope to increase this statistic with the WMed Promise Scholarship,” she said. “It is our aspiration that donor support will be used to create an endowment to fund scholarships in perpetuity.”
Medical school faculty member Dr. Robert R. Gorman, III will serve as the fundraising campaign chairperson for the WMed Promise Scholarship program. He is a graduate of KPS, a practicing orthopaedic surgeon in Kalamazoo, and his three daughters attend KPS.
Learn more about how to support the WMed Promise Scholarship at https://wmed.edu/wmedpromise.