Dean’s Student Assistance Fund

The Dean’s Student Assistance Fund provides essential financial support to medical students facing unforeseen crises, ensuring they can pursue their education and training.

Dear Donors, Thank you for your generous contribution that allowed me to attend The Society of Thoracic Surgeons annual meeting in San Diego this past January. To say that this meeting supported my career would be an understatement. In addition to the excellent educational sessions, I was also able to meet up with program directors that I interviewed with this past Fall and was introduced to other Cardiothoracic surgery faculty. I am now more confident that I will match into my chosen specialty. In a field as small as CT surgery, making these connections can be the difference between being presented with opportunities to become a leader in the field and just being a hopeful. More importantly, I want to highlight that this gift didn’t just help me personally. I am committed to providing excellent cardiothoracic surgical care to underserved communities. Your gift will have a much larger reach and I want to thank you for investing in myself and my future patients. Lastly, mentoring and ensuring the next generation of cardiothoracic surgeons reflects our ever-changing demographics is important to me. During this meeting, I was able to connect with other medical students and mentor a couple of other CT surgery hopefuls that come from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. You have helped create a ripple effect and have supported many more students than just me. Again, thank you for your generous donation. Thank you for ensuring students with limited financial means like me can thrive and help create a more equitable healthcare system. - Student Recipient

Dear Donors, I would like to express how thankful I am to have received financial funds during my deferring medical school year. I do not have family financial support, so these funds helped me during financial hardships. I used these funds to help me pay for rent, utilities, phone bill, and at times food. Without these funds I really do not know how I would have survived financially. Thank you for helping those who come from underserved marginalized communities like myself. Once again thank you! - Student Recipient

Dear Donors, These funds were essential in allowing myself and my research colleague, Sonia Gill, (both of us from the Rural Program in Medical Education) present our longitudinal research on rural access to palliative care at an international conference in Montreal, Canada. This research was unique for identifying increased rural racial and ethnic diversity as positively correlated to increased access to palliative care services, underlying the importance of addressing racial justice as a key factor in rural healthcare equity. Thank you for making it possible for us to share this research with others! - Student Recipient

TO MAKE A GIFT BY MAIL, please make a check payable to UC Davis Foundation and mail it to UC Davis Advancement Services, 202 Cousteau Place, Suite 185 Davis, CA 95618. In the memo line of the check, please indicate the name of the fund your gift supports.