IMSMP has awarded its Equality Empowerment Fund (IEEF) scholarship to three recipients: Katherine Foote, Justin Olivera, and Miracle Rogers. The IEEF was created in collaboration with Mentoring in Medicine 2020, with the purpose of supporting medical education for members of communities effected by systemic racism and institutionalized violence. 

“We are setting up the ‘IMSMP Equality Empowerment Fund’ for motivated students who do not have access to higher education opportunities due to financial hardship,” Dr. Saud A. Sadiq, Director of the IMSMP announced last year. “We hope that others will follow, not just with statements of outrage, but with positive actions.”

The IEEF will provide a total of $65,000.00 in medical school tuition each year to three students who remain in good standing throughout their medical school careers. Mentoring in Medicine, a non-profit organization with a mission to diversify the biomedical workforce, received 78 applications for this scholarship opportunity.

Dr. Lynne Holden, President of Mentoring in Medicine stated, “As of July 2019, there were 918,547 practicing physicians with 5% and 5.8% self-identified as Black and Latinx, respectively, as reported by the Association of American Medical Colleges. According to an April 2021 New England Journal of Medicine article, the number of Black male medical students consisted of 3.1% of national medical school enrollment in 1978; by 2019 that overall number has decreased to 2.9%. The Mentoring in Medicine Team is delighted to partner with Dr. Saud A. Sadiq and his team to assist in decreasing the financial burden of attending medical school especially during a time when there is such a huge demand for physicians who are underrepresented in medicine. We would like to thank Dr. Sadiq for his generosity and hope that he inspires other established professionals to pay it forward. Our next generation is facing unimaginable challenges. This gift to three students certainly makes their dream of becoming a doctor much easier!”