VUSM student lands coveted Harvard fellowship
Allison Martin, a third-year student at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, has been selected to receive a Zuckerman Fellowship to attend Harvard's School of Public Health during a one-year break from her medical training.
Allison Martin
Martin will receive tuition and other support from Harvard through the Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership Zuckerman Fellowship program to complete her master's degree in public health.
“My goal is to have a career in public health, dedicated to the elimination of health disparities,” Martin said.
“As a child I spent a lot of time helping my grandmother, who worked in the public sector in Kentucky well into her 80's. Vanderbilt is wonderful to allow me this one-year break in my medical education to get my M.P.H.”
While at Harvard, Martin, along with sixteen other Zuckerman Fellowship recipients from across the nation, will be able to attend leadership development modules and participate in lectures related to public service given by leaders in the field.
George C. Hill, Ph.D., Levi Watkins Professor and associate dean for Diversity in Medical Education, endorsed Martin's application for the fellowship.
“Allison continues to be a leader among our medical school students and is clearly dedicated to making a difference in access and delivery of health care to all citizens, including the underserved. Her drive for excellence in all she does is laudable and has been justly rewarded,” Hill said.
Martin will complete her third year here at Vanderbilt and then will head to Harvard at the end of the summer.
She will resume her fourth year studies in July 2012 with the class of 2013.
After completion of her training at Vanderbilt, Martin says she will likely specialize in either internal medicine or pediatrics.
The founder of the award, Mort Zuckerman, chairman and editor-in-chief of U.S. News and World Report, says the fellowship award is intended to ensure that future generations of professionals will be able to explore and be enriched by the challenges of public service leadership.