Aubri Charnigo

Medical student graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn.

Q: How did the scholarship award help you in medical school?
A: The scholarship award assisted me in lowering the amount of loans I need to take out, which relieved some of my financial burden. The award also encouraged me in that I felt supported in my pursuit of medicine. I also had the opportunity to meet other medical students and physicians from my community in Pennsylvania, which was very meaningful.

Q: How do you see student debt affecting today's medical students?
A: Student debt drives medical students into making more financially oriented career decisions than they would make it they were choosing a specialty debt-free. The very high burden of debt also likely prevents students from making a career of caring for underserved patients, such as the uninsured or underinsured, although many medical students initially chose to go into medicine to serve the underserved.”

Punit Singh

Anesthesiology resident at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center.

Q: How do you see student debt affecting today's medical students?
A: Discourages them. Makes them think they've made a series of wrong decisions that have lead them to be a doctor. Also discourages them from going into primary care specialties such as family medicine.

Ramzy Nagle

Medical student at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University Philadelphia.

Q: Do you have any career advice for future physicians?
A: Pick a medical school based on the reputation of the physicians they create and its investment in its students.

Elizabeth Miller, MD

Attended the Temple University School of Medicine.
She is a Diagnostic Radiology Resident at Beaumont Health System in Michigan.

Q: How did the scholarship award help you in medical school, and how did receiving this scholarship encourage you in your studies?
A: Receiving the scholarship actually allowed me to pursue a medical trip to further my clinical understanding of how diseases affect patients all over the globe.

Q: How do you see student debt affecting today's medical students?
A: Student debt might affect today's medical students when they are trying to determine a medical field to pursue for residency. Medical students may be swayed to pursue a more lucrative field rather than primary care, which is known for relatively lower salaries compared to other specialized medical fields.

Want to learn more about establishing a named scholarship?

Contact Lori Storm at lstorm@pamedsoc.org, or call her at (717) 558-7846.