About the Scholarship

Did you know that our doctors award annual scholarships to deserving high school students as part of our long-term commitment to supporting future generations of doctors?

Each year, the Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group (PAFMG) awards Pre-Med Scholarships to local high school seniors who will attend a four-year college and plan to pursue careers as doctors. The scholarship was started by Richard Babb, M.D., who was a gastroenterologist at PAMF’s Palo Alto Clinic. Since Dr. Babb started the program in 1993, we have awarded more than 70 scholarships to local students.

Scholarships are up to $30,000, paid out over five years: four years of an undergraduate university and the first year of medical school.

Requirements

To be considered for this scholarship, you must meet the following qualifications:

1. Anticipate a career as a medical doctor and plan to take pre-medicine courses to prepare for medical school.
2. Live in a geographic region served by the Palo Alto Medical Foundation: Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties

3. Maintain a minimum high school GPA of 3.5. You will be expected to maintain a minimum college GPA of 3.0 (verified by transcript)

4. Demonstrate financial need (verified by supporting financial documentation)
5. Complete the online application including a 1,000-word personal statement that explains why you are interested in medicine, including any relevant background and life experiences, and your need for financial assistance.
6. Email the following supporting documents (in pdf format) to scholarship@sutterhealth.org no later than the scholarship deadline. If possible, create and email a single PDF with the naming convention “[First Name] [Last Name] – Supp” eg “John Smith – Supp”. If sending separate PDFs, all documents should be titled beginning with your first and last name.
   
   1. One letter of recommendation from a teacher or school guidance counselor
   2. High school grade transcript
   3. Copy of SAT and/or ACT transcripts (if applicable)

   4. Copy of Student Aid Report (SAR)/Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) (if not applicable, please include a statement in your supplemental documents about why it is not applicable)

   Incomplete applications will not be considered for the scholarship.

Questions

Please contact us at scholarship@sutterhealth.org.