Rockford, IL - The departments of family and community medicine and biomedical sciences at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford have been awarded a $75,000 grant from the Dr. Louis and Violet Rubin Fund of the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois,” said Vivek Kantayya, MD, interim head of family and community medicine at the College.
According to Ramaswamy Kalyanasundaram, PhD, professor and head of the department of biomedical sciences at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, the “Inspiring Students to Careers in Health & Sciences” grant will be used for mentoring students from the area and increase their awareness of the vast array of careers available in the medical and science fields.
Our program has worked with high school students through our summer sciences program for a number of years,” said Ramaswamy. “This grant will give us additional resources to expand the program to college students from our area.” In addition, Kantayya will work to link high school students who are working with the Rockford Association for Minority Management (RAMM) and other local organizations to this program.
The University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford has served the area since 1971 as a regional academic health science center. The University clinics are located in Rockford, Rockton, Belvidere and Mt. Morris.
As the area’s leading provider of philanthropic services, the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois stewards over $60 million. Each year the Foundation awards grants and scholarships of over $3 million on behalf of caring donors who want to give something back to the community.
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