Stony Brook Medicine presented the first Spatz Foundation Scholarships during the school’s Aug. 29 White Coat Ceremony, held at the Charles B. Wang Center in conjunction with the school’s Distinguished Alumni Awards presentation. The $10,000 scholarships were presented to students Erika Betancourt, Alison Chan, Arjun Dhawan, Riddhi Doshi and Frank Ferraioli by Latha Chandran, MD, MPH, a Stony Brook Medicine pediatrics professor and Vice Dean of Undergraduate Medical Education.
“I am honored to be a recipient of the Spatz scholarship because it has inspired me to continue to work hard and strive for excellence in all aspects of my medical school career and beyond,” said Betancourt, a third-year medical student from Valley Stream.
Dr. Chandran noted that one of the qualifications for receiving the Drs. Martin and Dorothy Spatz Foundation Scholarship is “high academic performance in medical school.”
“During his lifetime, Dr. Spatz (Martin) practiced as a urologist and developed a strong relationship with the Stony Brook Department of Urology,” said Joseph Greensher, MD, a Spatz Foundation trustee. “He had the pleasure of teaching residents and always had an interest in medical students and the difficulties they faced during their schooling.
“These scholarships were a way to honor Martin’s ties to Stony Brook and the interest he had in helping to alleviate challenges for medical students,” he added.
Following the White Coat Ceremony, Spatz Foundation trustees and scholars took time for lunch where they could get to know one another.
“Stony Brook Medicine is an institute that my uncle, Dr. Martin Spatz, was proud to be affiliated with,” said Kathy Pierce, a trustee and grants administrator with the Spatz Foundation. “One of the reasons we chose to support scholarships at the Stony Brook University School of Medicine was because of his affection for the school, and we thought it was a nice way to carry on his name and legacy.”
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