Donors, Students Celebrated at Combined Keefer Society/Scholarship Dinner

Donor Sarkis Kechejian standing between two scholarship recipients
Donor Sarkis Kechejian, MD,’63, with Kechejian scholarship recipients Eleanor Shi, MD’26 and Daniel Matthews, MD’23, ’27.

When he graduated from Boston University School of Medicine (now the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine) in 1963, Sarkis Kechejian had accumulated $7,000-$8,000 in debt, roughly $70,000 to $80,000 today.

“Which I was quickly able to pay off,” said Kechejian in an interview at a dinner to honor the Chester S. Keefer, MD, Society members as well as scholarship donors and their students on September 28 at the Hotel Commonwealth. Named for the former medical school dean (1955-1960), the society was established to recognize the dedicated donors whose total lifetime contributions have reached $100,000 or more.

In response to rising tuition and student debt, Kechejian started a scholarship fund in 1996.

“I was in the position to be able to give back,” he said. “I was able to lighten the burden on these students.”

The medical school’s scholarship endowment has grown from $15 million 25 years ago to more than $150 million today. Scholarships help students lower debt, are attractive in recruiting the best students and promote socioeconomic, racial and ethnic diversity while allowing students to choose less lucrative specialties, like primary care or pediatrics, which are staffed at critically low levels in the U.S.

Scholarship donor Burton Golub standing in a crowd of people smiling broadly
Scholarship donor Burton Golub, MD’65 at the combined Keefer Society/Scholarship Dinner on Sept. 28.

“We wanted to assist people to be able to participate in medical education who might otherwise not be able to due to financial reasons,” said Burton Golub, MD’65, of the scholarship fund he founded a few years ago with his wife Lee.

“My wife and I aren’t looking for gratitude and thank-yous. We’re happy to do it, and we’re financially able to do it,” said Golub.

While some donors are modest, even dismissive about their generosity, students are universally appreciative.

“It’s a huge amount of money and I am able to go through medical school with more peace of mind because I don’t have to worry about the financial burden of taking out $400,000 in loans,” said second-year medical Nnaemeka Chukwudalu Nwoke, MD’27, who received a scholarship from the Golubs and a second one from the Louis W. Sullivan, MD’58, Endowed Scholarship Fund.

“If someone invests in me, I will break my back to make sure that investment is worth it,” he said. “It is one of the things that has driven me my whole life.”

Nwoke was one of two student speakers at the dinner, which was attended by more than 100 donors and students. He came to the U.S. from Nigeria by himself at 17 to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor.

His early academic success at the University of Southern Florida was tempered by his failure to get into medical school on his first try. It took more than four years of working in various medical positions before he was accepted into the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine in 2023.

“Words simply cannot express how grateful I am for the opportunity to be here,” Nwoke said.

Medical student Nnaemeka Chukwudalu Nwoke addresses the audience from a podium at the scholarship dinner
Second-year medical student and scholarship recipient Nnaemeka Chukwudalu Nwoke was one of two student speakers at the Keefer Society/Scholarship Dinner.

Elizabeth Brown, MD, recalled working as many as four jobs to pay for medical school. Brown is a neonatologist who was an associate professor of pediatrics at the school from 1987 to 2016.

“The first two years of medical school were incredibly difficult,” she said. “Basically, I didn’t sleep.

Donor Elizabeth Brown r) talking with a small group of scholarship recipients
Donor Elizabeth Brown, MD, talking with recipients of her scholarship.

“That really (drove) my interest in funding scholarships, because people shouldn’t have to do that to follow their dreams,” Brown said. The Dr. Elizabeth Brown Endowed Scholarship Fund requires recipients have an interest in becoming a pediatrician or an affiliated specialty, although they are not held to that choice if they change their mind.

“I wanted to help support young people who had an interest in pediatrics and were in the same (financial) situation I was in,” she said.

“I’m just in awe of people who choose to give what they have to support others,” said fourth-year medical student Noelle Wojciechowski, who also spoke at the dinner. She is the beneficiary of a scholarship from the Drs. Karen and Elliott Antman Medical Student Scholarship Fund.

Receiving money from the medical school dean was especially meaningful.

“It’s a big testament to BU’s commitment to bridging the divide (between the wealthy and those in need of financial help) within medical education,” said Wojciechowski. Her medical interest stems from her father’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis. As a child she helped care for him, assisting her mother who is a nurse. At age 10, she attended a camp for children of MS patients and was drawn to the physicians who educated them about the condition.

“It was at this point that I began considering becoming a doctor myself,” Wojciechowski said. “I wanted to be able to help people who were afraid, or who were upset. I wanted to be able to explain to them what was happening.”

By high school, her father could no longer work, and the family worried about being able to pay for college and medical school. Wojciechowski said her scholarship has allowed her to consider a career in internal medicine as she applies for a residency post-graduation.

“I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had, not only to attend medical school, but to have some of that financial anxiety taken off my shoulders,” she said.

Scholarship receipient Leila Caplan standing with donors Deborah and John Wilson
Leila Caplan, MD’28, is recipient of Deborah W. Wilson, PhD, Endowed Scholarship, with Deborah and John Wilson.

After 48 years as a researcher and professor of anatomy & neurobiology during which she received numerous teaching awards, Deborah Wilson retired in 2020. Three years ago, she started the Deborah W. Wilson, PhD, Endowed Scholarship.

“It was something I felt I could do that would really make a difference,” said Wilson. The scholarship requires that the recipient be from New Hampshire, where Wilson lives with husband John Wilson, DMD, to help alleviate a shortage of physicians there.

“I think a scholarship helps a student make a decision about what practice they can go into…I think it’s better if you don’t owe a lot of money,” said Wilson.

First-year medical student, and Wilson scholarship recipient, Leila Caplan’s father was a first responder to the World Trade Towers on September 11, 2001. But he can no longer work due to health problems stemming from that tragedy.

“We were worried about how I was going to afford medical school and whether I’d have to push it off for a year,” said Caplan. “Just getting the scholarship and knowing that something was off my plate was amazing. It was something my parents were really worried about.”

Sarkis Kechejian and Burton Golub standing together smiling
Endowed scholarship donors Sarkis Kechejian, MD’63, and Burton Golub, MD’65.

Receiving his Kechejian scholarship helped tip the scales in second-year medical student Gurkerat Singh’s decision to attend BU.

“When I received this scholarship, I felt like the school really wanted me to come and it was one of the big factors for me to attend (BU) versus other schools,” Singh said.

Haralambos Gavras, MD, emeritus professor of medicine and a primary mentor of graduate students in Graduate Medical Sciences, and his wife Irene Gavras, MD, both immigrated to the U.S. from their native Greece. The Alexis Gavras Graduate Scholarship fund they established is mainly intended for Greek students.

“Do you know a better reason (to donate to scholarships) than to help a kid find his way through science,” he asked, nodding at recipient Konstantinos Kontodimas, a fourth-year PhD student who first came to Boston from Greece in 2016 to pursue a BU undergraduate degree.

“It means a lot,” said Kontodimas. “It’s not just the financial aspect, it’s also emotional – the fact that I have people thinking about me.”

Kontodimas also felt being a scholarship recipient was a building block for future grants.

“It is a great steppingstone for someone who wants to go into academia,” said Kontodimas. “In a world where grants are everything, this (scholarship) can be seen as a grant. It’s a way of looking at somebody’s efforts and recognizing them.”

When they established their scholarship fund two years ago, Martha Skinner, MD, an emeritus professor of rheumatology who worked for 50 years at BU including as director of the Amyloidosis Center, and her husband Sumner Stone, MD’58, wanted to be quiet and unassuming donors.

Stone said they felt there was no need for students to contact them to express gratitude. Still, they were happy to meet their scholarship recipient at the Keefer dinner. Michelle Surets, a second-year medical student from Brooklyn, wore a ribbon under her name tag that read “Future Doc.”

“We’re very pleased that we have this wonderful student, who is our named (scholarship) student, and we have the privilege of sitting with her and hearing about her life,” said Skinner, who smiled at Surets and put a hand on her shoulder.

“I can’t think of a better use of our money than to invest in someone and help them learn about medicine and contribute to the world,” said Stone.

Surets is the first in her family to attend medical school. The scholarship from Skinner and Stone was a big vote of confidence, she said.

“It’s great to meet people who have already…been very successful and are willing to give back; (that) there’s someone here who thinks that you can do it and will help you along the way.”