In an effort to encourage medical students to give back to their school, Daniel Medeiros MD'86, president of the Brown Medical Alumni Association, recently made a pledge to match all donations made by current medical students to the Brown Medical School Annual Fund.
Medeiros and Bethany Solomon, interim director of alumni and parent programs for the Alpert Medical School, both told The Herald that the pledge was made to encourage med students to start donating while they are still in school, in hopes that they will continue to give after they graduate.
"It's a way to educate the students about the annual fund so that they understand the importance of giving back," Solomon said. Medeiros said he believes the students will be building a sense of community by donating.
Rather than emphasizing the amount of money raised, both Medeiros and Solomon said they are stressing the amount of student participation. "We're really asking people to give what they can give," Medeiros said, "I would prefer to have each person give a dollar and have everyone give than have one person give $2,000."
Donations and the matching amount would be made to the 10-year-old Brown Medical School Annual Fund, which "is set up to support the highest needs of the Medical School," said Larry Zeiber, senior associate dean for biomedical advancement.
Zeiber said 45 percent of the fund is set aside for scholarship support, though Medeiros said the percentage would increase to 55 percent "to ensure that we get a diverse range of medical students."
Money from the fund also supports a curricular redesign for the Med School as well as travel expenses for students who are presenting papers around the world, Solomon said.
Letters informing med students of the match gift were sent out Feb. 12, and they will be followed up with e-mails from fellow students, Solomon said.
"For student donations, so far we haven't seen the result yet," Solomon said. But she said she is hopeful that students will respond once they become more aware of the gift.
Student awareness is also a goal of a student committee comprising nine med students who are working with Johanna Corcoran, assistant director for student programs for the Brown Annual Fund.
Beverly Young '05 MD'09 said, though she plans to donate, she doesn't know specifically what the donations would be used for - a feeling she said she said other med students shared. Still, she said she understood the importance of donating. "It gives us a chance to show that we support the future of the medical school."
Michael Wang '04 MD'08 said he thinks Medeiros' pledge was generous but remained doubtful that students would be able to contribute significantly.
"I think it's great that he's willing to match whatever the med students are able to contribute," Wang said. "Granted, a lot of us aren't really able to contribute that much because we're in debt up to our eyeballs." He pointed to next year's increase in Med School tuition as a factor that he felt might limit student donations.
Last year, students were also encouraged to contribute to the fund, though their donations were not matched. Of the roughly 300 students in the Med School last year, 76 students made donations, which amounted to about $1,500, Solomon said. This year, "we think it would be great to have 100 percent participation," she said.
Asked if he is worried that he won't have enough money to match all of the student donations, Medeiros said, "I don't think it's going to be a problem. If it is, I'm going to have to take out my own loans."
