Keefer Society Scholarship Dinner Unites Students with Donors
At the annual Keefer Society Scholarship Dinner, there’s a sound that runs steadily in the background, beneath the speeches, the awards and food service. It’s the conversation between donors and the students they have supported and are meeting, many of them, for the first time.
“They are wonderful, wonderful people,” said Ann Cea, MD’67, a radiologist and the medical coordinator for the New York State Department of Health Office of Professional Medical Conduct.
Standing beside Cea in the Fenway Room of the Hotel Commonwealth at the Sept. 25 dinner was third-year medical student Molly Geraghty, a beneficiary of the Cea Scholarship Fund.
“Molly is the perfect example of someone pursuing something that they love, and I’m very proud of what she’s doing,” said Cea.
“I come from a long line of public-school teachers. No one in medicine for generations, if ever,” said Geraghty. “And so, having someone who is there to support me and show that they believe in my potential really means a lot.”
Nearly 100 donors and students attended the dinner that honors the former medical school dean (1955-1960) and was established to recognize donors whose lifetime contributions have reached $100,000 or more. The medical school’s scholarship endowment has grown from $15 million 26 years ago to more than $164 million today.
Daniel Kirshenbaum, MD’11, talks with a student recipient during the social hour before the Keefer Scholarship Dinner. Kirshenbaum continues to fund the Elaine B. and Howard D. Kirshenbaum Scholarship Fund, named for his late parents.
After his parents passed away, cardiologist Daniel Kirshenbaum, MD’11, decided to continue to support the Elaine B. and Howard D. Kirshenbaum Scholarship Fund in their memory.
“I’m very grateful that I’ve been given the opportunity to help people,” Kirshenbaum said. “I think when you are working so hard to study, to be a doctor, to try to help other people, to have to worry about your finances, debt and lifelong obligations is just very difficult. Anything I can do to make that easier is something I want to do.”
Los Angeles native and second-year medical student Ruby Nguyen said his parents escaped from countries riven by violence: his father from the Cambodian genocide, and his mother the violence of the Vietnam War. Nguyen’s father repairs jewelry, and his mother works in a nail salon.
It was Nguyen’s older brother’s death from brain cancer that propelled him into medicine. He worked for five years before he entered medical school; first as a research coordinator at the University of California Irvine and then as a contract teacher for the U.S. Dept. of Education. He is still employed part-time in Upward Bound, a federal program supporting high school students from low-income families prepare for college.
Nguyen is a scholarship recipient from the Sumner Stone, MD’58, and Martha Skinner, MD, Endowed Scholarship Fund.
“Without the scholarship, I honestly don’t even know if I could have attended medical school,” said Nguyen.
The assistance can also attract the best students and help diversify the student body.
“I probably would have stayed in California if not for the scholarship,” said Nguyen. “It was pretty much the deciding factor for coming to BU.”
Second-year medical student Brianna Chambers was one of two medical students who shared stories with guests.
Two second-year medical students, Grace Johnson and Brianna Chambers were selected to share their stories with the dinner guests.
“I am the proud daughter of two hardworking parents. My father worked at the post office, and my mother was the first in her family to graduate from college,” Chambers told the audience. Her mother teaches in a public school.
“From her, I learned that education was not just about earning a degree, but also about breaking barriers and opening doors,” said Chambers, a recipient of a scholarship from the Kenneth C. Edelin Scholarship Fund.
Chambers is co-president of the BU Chapter of the Student National Medical Association, a national organization that designs and develops mentorship and service programs for underrepresented students. She is also a member of the student group, Creating Leadership and Education to Address Racism, which helps medical students understand racism in medicine.
Her medical school research is focused on gestational weight gain and its impact on metabolism and cardiovascular risk later in life.
“None of this would be possible without the support (I’ve) received,” said Chambers. “Scholarships give us the ability to concentrate on our education, our research and our community service.”
Johnson is supported by the Dr. Trevor J.G. Phillips and Dr. Mark R. Dover Endowed Scholarship Fund. She said her path to medicine was shaped by the experience of her grandmother, a stroke survivor.
“Witnessing the end of her life introduced my desire to become a physician who honors patients’ priorities and dignity at every stage,” she said.
Before entering medical school, Johnson spent two years as a research assistant at Boston Children’s Hospital working with the Medical Critical Care team in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Boston Children’s Hospital. The team helped parents navigate the difficult questions of treatment and healthcare.
“Bearing witness to these conversations – painful, human and profoundly compassionate – affirmed the (kind) of physician I want to be, one who brings empathy, candor and humility to the discussion of how patients want to live and die.”
Advocacy has been central to Johnson’s medical school experience. This past summer, she participated in the Medical Student Summer Research Program, helping to develop an educational tool on Extreme Risk Protection Orders that allow providers to remove firearms from individuals who might harm themselves or others. She leads the Disability and Identity Vertical Integration Group that advocates for curriculum changes.
“Scholarships relieve the financial burden and allow students like me to pursue what inspires us most,” said Johnson.
The Chester Keefer Society has 501 members and inducted three new members at the Sept. 25 dinner.
Larisa Connors, MD’98 and John Connors who established the Larisa E. and John Connors III Endowed Scholarship Fund.
Monita Lam, who established the Kum Fung Lau Fund, named for her mother, to benefit BU’s Alzheimer Research Center.
Ronda Rockett, MD’98, and Sean Rockett, MD, who support the Applebaum-Rockett Scholarship Fund.