Your gift to student scholarships at Dell Medical School is an investment in tomorrow’s physician leaders. Those who are dedicated to helping all people get and stay healthy. Those who will shape the health care system of the future.
Our goal is to cover one-third of tuition costs for each class, and we need your help to support the incoming class of 2022. Your gift helps us compete for top students, recruit a diverse student body and reduce debt, which allows students to pursue specialties where they can make the biggest difference.
There is no better time to give. Thanks to the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the 300th donor to Dell Med’s 40 Hours for the Forty Acres campaign will trigger an extra $55,000 contribution to our Student Scholarships Fund. Today is the day to make a difference in the lives of our students and the patients they will serve.
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MEET OUR STUDENTS
Your gift during 40 for Forty will support scholarships for ALL students in our first three classes. Get to know a few of them.
Jameson Tieman, first-year Dell Med Student
Jameson, 27, took an unusual path to medicine. While working as an appeals reviewer for the Texas Office of the Attorney General — and planning for law school — he moonlighted as a part-time custodian at Integral Care. He worked his way up to assistant supervisor of the facility, which provides mental health services to the poor and uninsured in Austin and Travis County. At Dell Med, he hopes to work with a similar population, “those who are the most disenfranchised, with the least resources.” He’s eager to transform the approach to mental health care and ignite change in the system.
“Scholarship support allows people from all walks of life to pursue this career. There are lots of qualified people with diverse perspectives who can really shake things up but for whom the cost is a barrier. That’s a disservice to them, the people they could help and to the profession itself.”
Brooke Hergert, first-year Dell Med student
Brooke felt drawn to medicine at a young age, but her parents weren’t able to financially support that path. Instead, she joined Army ROTC and accepted a scholarship in engineering. After graduation, she was commissioned as a second lieutenant and started flight school in May 2001. Her seven-year military career was dominated by deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, where she lost both her mentor and mentee in a helicopter crash. “Since leaving the Army, I’ve reflected on how lucky I am to have my life and my limbs. I feel a sense of duty to lead the best life I can and serve a purpose greater than myself, in memory of those who sacrificed everything,” she says. “That’s one reason I decided to pursue my dream of becoming a doctor. I wanted the opportunity to make an immediate impact on people’s lives, and I wanted to do it here in our community.”
“Without your support, this path simply wouldn’t have been possible for me. I’m married with two young boys, adding the extra complication of paying for childcare. Because of you, I will graduate with little to no debt — a meaningful achievement for me since it was that very financial barrier that stopped me from pursuing my dream in the first place.”
Dekoiya Burton, first-year Dell Med student
When Dekoiya was 10 years old, his mother had a baby: a boy born without arms and legs. She was a single parent, suffering from postpartum depression, suddenly raising a child with special needs. As Dekoiya, 23, remembers it, she received little support from her health care team. “That’s when I decided to become a doctor,” he says. “I never wanted to see another mother go without the care she needs.” Dekoiya was drawn to Dell Med’s mission to educate physician leaders. “This school is committed to more than just educating the best clinicians — it’s also training the best health care advocates and community-oriented doctors,” he says. “That’s exactly what I was looking for, and it represents the change I want to help make in the health care system.”
“Receiving a scholarship was incredibly humbling. It showed me that there are people who think that my story and perspective is important, and that they’re willing to take risks and invest in people – because that’s who can bring about change in health care.”
Meet more first-year students and get to know members of our first class, now in their second year.
