Program One
Student Scholarships & Mentorship
We award need-based tuition grants to medical, nursing, and allied-health students who are academically in good standing and financially unable to continue. Awards range from $600 for examination and licensing fees to $9,600 for a full academic year, and may be renewed annually until the degree is completed.
Every recipient is paired with a practicing physician mentor who commits to monthly contact for the duration of the award — a requirement, not a courtesy. Mentors help with rotation choices, residency applications, burnout, and the ordinary logistics of a long degree.
Who qualifies & what we ask
- Enrolled in an accredited medical, nursing, or allied-health program
- Documented financial need (fee statement plus one supporting document)
- Satisfactory academic standing certified by the institution
- Willingness to accept a mentor and submit two brief progress reports a year
- Average award
- $4,150 per academic year
- Renewal rate
- 94% of recipients renewed
- Completion rate
- 97% graduate on schedule
- Application window
- Rolling; decisions within 21 days
Program Two
Hospital & Clinical Infrastructure Support
We fund diagnostic and treatment equipment for teaching hospitals, district hospitals, and non-profit clinics: ultrasound and echocardiography units, ventilators, transport incubators, radiant warmers, autoclaves, blood-gas and hematology analyzers, and basic research laboratory instrumentation.
No grant is approved on a wish list alone. Our Equipment Review committee requires a clinical justification signed by the department head, evidence of trained operators, a local service pathway, and confirmation of the electrical and space requirements. Funds are paid to the vendor directly, never to an individual, and installation is verified with photographs and a commissioning certificate.
Who qualifies & what we ask
- Non-profit, public, or teaching institution serving low-income patients
- Written clinical justification from the department head
- Named on-site operator and documented maintenance capacity
- Agreement to utilization reporting and site visits
- Grants funded to date
- 213 items across 41 institutions
- Typical grant size
- $8,000 – $150,000
- Service contract
- Minimum 24 months required
- Follow-up
- Utilization report at 6 and 18 months
Program Three
Continuing Medical Education & Conferences
Twice a year the Foundation convenes a clinical symposium in the Tampa Bay area, with satellite sessions delivered online for partner hospitals in other time zones. Sessions are case-based and deliberately practical: airway management, obstetric emergencies, point-of-care ultrasound, antimicrobial stewardship, and diagnostic reasoning in low-resource settings.
Registration is free for public-hospital staff, residents, and our own scholarship recipients. Faculty serve without honorarium; the Foundation covers only travel at coach rates. Recorded sessions and slide decks remain openly available to partner institutions afterward.
Who qualifies & what we ask
- Licensed clinicians, residents, and final-year students
- Partner institutions may nominate delegations of up to eight
- Online attendance available for all plenary sessions
- Certificates issued within ten business days
- Symposiums held
- 31 since 2011
- Clinicians trained
- 4,900+ attendees
- Credits offered
- Up to 6.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™
- Fee for public-sector staff
- Waived in full
Program Four
Community Health Clinics & Screening Days
Our Saturday clinics operate on a rotating basis through community centers and congregational halls between Largo and Pinellas Park, with seasonal screening camps run by partner hospitals abroad. Services are free and no identification is required: blood pressure, blood glucose, BMI, vision screening, basic wound care, and medication review.
The clinic exists to catch what routine life misses. When we find something, we do not simply hand over a leaflet — a volunteer coordinator books the follow-up appointment and calls the patient afterward to confirm they attended.
Who qualifies & what we ask
- Open to all residents regardless of insurance or immigration status
- No appointment or identification required
- Interpretation available in Spanish, Gujarati, and Hindi
- Volunteer clinicians and students welcome to join any clinic day
- Patient visits supported
- 38,700 since 2016
- Screenings last year
- 2,410
- Referrals completed
- 187 with confirmed follow-up
- Cost to patient
- None, ever