by T.J. Utset
Anna Garcia, a fourth-year Vanderbilt University School of Medicine student, has received a Physicians of Tomorrow award from the American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation.
Garcia was one of 21 medical students across the country to be selected and will receive the $10,000 Johnson F. Hammond Scholarship to award her achievements and interest in medical journalism.
Garcia started at the School of Medicine in 2010 and after taking a year off to participate in the National Institute for Diabetes and Kidney Disease Medical Student Research Training Program, she is expected to graduate in 2015 and hopes to go in to general surgery.
“I hope to stay in academic surgery so that I can continue to pursue interests in metabolism research, quality improvement and teaching. However, regardless of what I go into, I hope to find ways to promote patient education,” Garcia said.
Her interest in research and interprofessional education started early on as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Public Health.
She has developed that interest at Vanderbilt, participating in the Vanderbilt Program for Interprofessional Learning and the student-run Shade Tree Clinic and said she feels fortunate to have found a medical school that also values the importance of educational experiences that occur outside of the classroom.
“I am very grateful for this award,” Garcia said. “it is a reflection on the wonderful mentors at Vanderbilt who made it possible for me to have such meaningful experiences in the classroom, clinic and lab.”
The AMA Foundation has awarded more than $61 million in scholarships to medical students since 1950.
