Our Priorities: Education

We are nationally known for our innovative, interdisciplinary, and community-focused approach to education. Philanthropy helps us recognize outstanding scholars, supports vital research, bolsters hands-on learning experiences and technology, and ensures our world-class physicians and researchers are able to spend time in the classroom.
 

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Invest in our students

While the University of Rochester has always prepared well-rounded physicians, we acknowledge a new imperative to graduate physicians who are committed to transforming care for underserved populations. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are top priorities for the School of Medicine and Dentistry. To ensure that the best and brightest students from a wide range of backgrounds can attend SMD, regardless of their financial circumstances, we must increase our available scholarship support.
 

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Caring with Compassion

Fatima Bawany’s father grew up in Burma and later immigrated to the U.S. When Fatima was about 15 years old, her father asked her to visit a refugee center with him. One of the first people she met was an 11-year-old girl from Sudan. 

“Her stories were heart-wrenching,” says Fatima. “They inspired me to want to become a doctor and to help people like her someday.” These stories also set the course for her life.

As a recipient of the Dr. William C. Manchester Memorial Scholarship, the Charles R. Barber Scholarship, and the J. Donald Hare, MD, Scholarship, Fatima is now a second-year student at the School for Medicine and Dentistry (SMD).

“The School of Medicine and Dentistry has supported my goals every step of the way,” she adds. “Everyone here wants students to become not just doctors, but compassionate ones.”
 

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Research during a pandemic

The School of Medicine & Dentistry is home to hundreds of master's and PhD students and postdoctoral appointees who are at the heart of research throughout the Medical Center and beyond. Some of these students and trainees shared their perspectives on the experience of conducting research—whether it's in the lab or via video conference—to better understand, prevent, and treat COVID-19.
 

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