Medical Student's Hard Work Pays Off

The American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation recently named Erica Alvarez, a student at the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, as a 2011 Minority Scholars Award recipient. As one of only 13 medical students in the country to receive this award, she will receive a $10,000 scholarship in recognition of scholastic achievement and commitment to improving minority health.

“This is such a huge honor to receive national recognition through this award,” Alvarez said. “I have been struggling with the mounting debt that is incurred in obtaining a medical degree and feel truly blessed to have been given this opportunity.”

Alvarez, a second-year medical student, was the first in her family to graduate from college. She was raised by her mother in El Paso. During her undergraduate education, Alvarez worked two jobs. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology.

On a Mission

Since starting medical school, Alvarez helped found the Pediatric Interest Group and currently serves as community outreach director. Her outreach includes service projects in a local home for children, a shelter for battered women, a child crisis center and mentorship for pre-medical students.

In addition, Alvarez recently participated in a medical mission trip to Honduras with the Catholic Diocese of El Paso. She also is active in the Christian Medical Student Association and student government and served as the founding secretary.

Alvarez's research interests include chronic kidney disease among the Mexican American population, which has led to presentations at the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Diabetes Digestive and Kidney Diseases Network of Minority Medical Research Investigators and Fifth Annual Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Research Colloquium.

The Minority Scholars Award, given in collaboration with the AMA Minority Affairs Consortium, with support from Pfizer Inc., promotes diversity in the medical profession and helps with the rapidly rising cost of medical education. The awards recognize scholastic achievement, financial need and commitment to improving minority health among first or second-year medical students in groups defined as historically underrepresented in the medical profession.

Less than seven percent of U.S. physicians fall within these groups, which include African American/Black, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, Alaska Native and Hispanic/Latino.

The AMA Foundation has made it a priority to help medical students handle the rising cost of their education. On average, future physicians graduate approximately $158,000 in debt, and in many cases the debt load is much higher. A large debt burden may deter many from practicing primary care medicine or practicing in underserved areas of the country.