MD Student Receives Prestigious Pisacano Scholarship

Headshot in black and white of Preston Butler in a suit and tie.Preston Butler, a fourth-year medical student, is one of nine medical students scholars selected as a 2021 Pisacano Scholar.

Awardees are students attending U.S. medical schools who show demonstrable leadership skills, superior academic achievement, strong communication skills, identifiable character and integrity and a noteworthy level of community service. Butler is the second BUSM student selected as a Pisacano Scholar since the start of the program in 1993.

The scholarship program, valued at approximately $28,000 to each recipient, provides educational programs, leadership training and funding for outstanding fourth-year medical students who have been identified as the future leaders in the field of family medicine.

Originally from Maryville, Tenn., Preston received his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Dallas with a degree in neuroscience as a Eugene McDermott Scholar and a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation College Scholar, the university’s preeminent scholarship designation.

At BUSM, he has advocated for LGBTQ patients by leading Service Pride, a service-learning group that volunteers in a foster home for LGBTQ youth and is funded by a grant that he and his co-leaders secured from the Massachusetts Medical Society.

His commitment to community, primary care and care of underserved populations led to Butler’s selection for the National Health Service Corps in his third year of medical school and the Gold Humanism Honor Society in his fourth. He plans to dedicate his career in family medicine to supporting the health of medically under-resourced communities by practicing full-spectrum care with emphasis in maternal and child health and LGBTQ health, promoting interdisciplinary practice, equity and antiracism.

Each Pisacano Scholar received an endorsement from his or her medical school prior to being reviewed by the Selection Committee. The Selection Committee comprises the distinguished members of the Pisacano Leadership Foundation (PLF) Board of Directors and more than 300 participating family physicians. Since 1993, the PLF has selected 166 outstanding medical students.