John Flores, MD, sympathizes with medical students, knowing the burden debt plays into career choices for students. Recalling his accrued tab of $70,000 in 1989, he feels current medical graduates’ pain.
“I can’t imagine it now,” Dr. Flores said. In today’s world, his tally would amount to nearly $176,000, adjusting for inflation.
Nowadays, two out of three U.S. allopathic medical school students have between $50,000 and $300,000 in debt upon graduation, according to a 2023 American Association of Medical Colleges survey (See “Debt Among U.S. Allopathic Graduating Medical Students, page 33.)
“I want young physicians and young students to be able to decide their future based on what they think is most promising and the most rewarding for them, not the money,” said Dr. Flores, a member of the Texas Medical Association's Educational Scholarship and Loan Committee.
Medical school debt has become an unfortunate reality for many with a dream to practice medicine, and TMA is committed to helping with the never-ending payment plans that often follow physicians late into their career. Whether through endowments, scholarships, or low-interest loans, TMA, TMA Foundation (TMAF), and TMA Alliance members are involved in setting up assistance programs to help the next generation of Texas physicians succeed.
It’s important for Texas physicians to give back, says Mahendra Patel, MD. The Lubbock obstetrician founded the TMAF Radha, Naren, and Hitaine Endowment for Medical Student Scholarships by Shakuntala and Mahendra Patel, which supports Hispanic, Asian, and Black students enrolled at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine in Lubbock.
“The importance of education was instilled in me by my father, who was an educator in Uganda, from an early age,” Dr. Patel said. “The reason behind my scholarship is so the best students can focus on their education and not have to worry about the [burden] created by medical school costs.”
The opportunity to give back was a goal of his from the time he became a physician.
“It’s why I choose to give a recurring donation each year [to TMAF]. Education is so important for our future,” Dr. Patel said.
A lesson in generous history
TMA has disbursed close to $2.1 million from active programs since 1998, and currently there are eight “special funds” foundation scholarships available for students, residents, and young physicians. (See “Helping the Next Gen,” below.)
In addition to scholarships, TMA has established many low-interest loan programs, currently at 4.4%, to assist medical students and resident physicians. As of Dec. 31, 2023, TMA had issued over $23.6 million in loans to 10,359 medical students and physician residents. (See “TMA’s Low-Interest Loans for Medical Students,” page 35.)
Two of the largest funds are named after TMA titans, Sam Thompson, MD, and May Owen, MD.
Dr. Thompson and his wife, Annie, established their namesake loan in 1952 with the goal of “helping students in the pursuit of their medical journey.” Dr. Thompson was an active TMA member from 1915 until his death in 1956, serving as president in 1934-35. Additionally, he was chair of TMA’s Board of Trustees from 1940 to 1946.
In addition to an irrevocable trust she set up to fund scholarships, Dr. Owen, TMA’s first female president, helped create The Physicians Benevolent Fund to help doctors and their families in need (www.texmed.org/PBF).
A hope for scholarship recipients is that one day, when they are financially stable, they will pass on the good grace to deserving students themselves. Jayesh Shah, MD, a San Antonio wound care specialist, says this is one of the main reasons he has remained generous to medical students throughout his career.
“I really feel that the best way to shape our future is by investing in the future of medicine,” said Dr. Shah, chair of TMA’s Educational Scholarship and Loan Committee and TMA’s president-elect. “By investing in our students and residents and helping them with scholarships and financial aid, people remember when they are supported. They remember when they needed help the most. When [students and residents] become the attending physician, they’re more likely to remember TMA and become an active member.”
TMA’s most charitable scholarship, the Diversity in Medicine Scholarship, is special to Dr. Shah and fellow scholarship and loan committee member, Cynthia Jumper, MD.
“Oftentimes the students with diverse backgrounds are the students who struggled the most financially,” Dr. Shah said. “Many of our hardest working and best students come from parents who are just hard-working people making honest livings, but there is no way they can afford to pay for medical school. [That] is who we want to help.”
Since 1998, the Diversity in Medicine Scholarship Program, founded to help diversify the physician workforce to meet the health care needs of Texans, has awarded nearly $1.6 million.
Patients are often more receptive if they can relate to their physician, says Dr. Jumper, a pulmonologist in Lubbock.
“[The importance] of the scholarship is because often our patients are more comfortable going to someone who looks like [them] and comes from the same culture,” she said. “If [physicians and patients] come from the same background, it becomes a ‘hey, let’s get through this together’ mentality.”
The TTUHSC professor also wants her students to know TMA cares about their future success.
“I want them to know a little bit about organized medicine and what benefits organized medicine can bring them,” Dr. Jumper said. “Obviously, I don’t expect a $1 million donation, but I do expect that, when my students can, [they] give $200 back to a scholarship through TMA because if everybody gave $200, that would make a huge difference.”
Diversity in Medicine Scholarships are awarded to one incoming student at each of Texas’ 16 medical schools. Upon the scholarship and loan committee’s selection of these “Bayardo Scholars,” the annual $10,000 scholarships are disbursed annually in four equal installments during each student’s matriculation.
These scholars are named in recognition of another retired physician with a history of generosity, Roberto Bayardo, MD. He gifted TMAF $3.2 million toward medical school scholarships – the largest single donation in the association’s history – through the Bayardo Trust to offer “long-term support.”
Often, the desire to pursue medicine develops well before medical school. Two of TMA’s most generous donors, Ernest Butler, MD, and his wife, Sarah, say science is the premise of medicine and good teachers can instill an early passion leading to future physicians.
In 1998, TMA Awards for Excellence in Science Teaching was named after the Butlers and since then, more than $800,000 has been given away to elementary, middle, and high school science teachers and their schools across the state.
“I used to be a schoolteacher and have always felt that the best teachers leave their students with lasting impact,” Mrs. Butler said. “This scholarship has a way of reaching excellent students by rewarding deserving teachers.”
Each year, the couple’s endowment makes $62,000 available to recognize up to five Texas educators. Dr. Butler, a retired otolaryngologist, has been a TMA member and leader since 1963. The Butlers are recognized as TMAF Major Donors for having donated more than $2 million to the foundation.