{"id":138701,"date":"2025-10-01T15:43:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T19:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/?post_type=bu-article&p=138701"},"modified":"2025-10-01T15:43:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T19:43:00","slug":"keefer-society-scholarship-dinner-unites-students-with-donors","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/news-events\/articles\/2025\/keefer-society-scholarship-dinner-unites-students-with-donors\/","title":{"rendered":"Keefer Society Scholarship Dinner Unites Students with Donors"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Third-year medical student Molly Geraghty speaks with her scholarship donor Ann Cea, MD’67<\/em>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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Scholarships allow students to pursue research and advocacy.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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October 1, 2025<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\tTwitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\tFacebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n

At the annual Keefer Society Scholarship Dinner, there\u2019s a sound that runs steadily in the background, beneath the speeches, the awards and food service. It\u2019s the conversation between donors and the students they have supported and are meeting, many of them, for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are wonderful, wonderful people,\u201d said Ann Cea, MD\u201967, a radiologist and the medical coordinator for the New York State Department of Health Office of Professional Medical Conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMolly is the perfect example of someone pursuing something that they love, and I\u2019m very proud of what she\u2019s doing,\u201d said Cea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI come from a long line of public-school teachers. No one in medicine for generations, if ever,\u201d said Geraghty. \u201cAnd so, having someone who is there to support me and show that they believe in my potential really means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s scholarship endowment has grown from $15 million 26 years ago to more than $164 million today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Daniel
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After his parents passed away, cardiologist Daniel Kirshenbaum, MD\u201911, decided to continue to support the Elaine B. and Howard D. Kirshenbaum Scholarship Fund in their memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m very grateful that I\u2019ve been given the opportunity to help people,\u201d Kirshenbaum said. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s father repairs jewelry, and his mother works in a nail salon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Nguyen\u2019s older brother\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nguyen is a scholarship recipient from the Sumner Stone, MD\u201958, and Martha Skinner, MD, Endowed Scholarship Fund.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithout the scholarship, I honestly don\u2019t even know if I could have attended medical school,\u201d said Nguyen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The assistance can also attract the best students and help diversify the student body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI probably would have stayed in California if not for the scholarship,\u201d said Nguyen. \u201cIt was pretty much the deciding factor for coming to BU.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Woman
Second-year medical student Brianna Chambers was one of two medical students who shared stories with guests.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two second-year medical students, Grace Johnson and Brianna Chambers were selected to share their stories with the dinner guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d Chambers told the audience. Her mother teaches in a public school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom her, I learned that education was not just about earning a degree, but also about breaking barriers and opening doors,\u201d said Chambers, a recipient of a scholarship from the Kenneth C. Edelin Scholarship Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chambers is co-president of the BU Chapter of the Student National Medical Association<\/a>, 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<\/a>, which helps medical students understand racism in medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her medical school research is focused on gestational weight gain and its impact on metabolism and cardiovascular risk later in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNone of this would be possible without the support (I\u2019ve) received,\u201d said Chambers. \u201cScholarships give us the ability to concentrate on our education, our research and our community service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWitnessing the end of her life introduced my desire to become a physician who honors patients\u2019 priorities and dignity at every stage,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before entering medical school, Johnson spent two years as a research assistant at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital working with the Medical Critical Care team in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital. The team helped parents navigate the difficult questions of treatment and healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBearing witness to these conversations \u2013 painful, human and profoundly compassionate \u2013 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advocacy has been central to Johnson\u2019s medical school experience. This past summer, she participated in the Medical Student Summer Research Program<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cScholarships relieve the financial burden and allow students like me to pursue what inspires us most,\u201d said Johnson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chester Keefer Society has 501 members and inducted three new members at the Sept. 25 dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larisa Connors, MD\u201998 and John Connors who established the Larisa E. and John Connors III Endowed Scholarship Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monita Lam, who established the Kum Fung Lau Fund, named for her mother, to benefit BU\u2019s Alzheimer Research Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronda Rockett, MD\u201998, and Sean Rockett, MD, who support the Applebaum-Rockett Scholarship Fund.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the annual Keefer Society Scholarship Dinner, there\u2019s a sound that runs steadily in the background, beneath the speeches, the awards and food service. It\u2019s the conversation between donors and the students they have supported and are meeting, many of them, for the first time. \u201cThey are wonderful, wonderful people,\u201d said Ann Cea, MD\u201967, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":138707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"Scholarship","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[395,425],"bu-publication":[367],"medicine-article-category":[],"medicine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[376,464],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[390],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/138701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138701"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/138701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138709,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/138701\/revisions\/138709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138701"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=138701"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-article-category?post=138701"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-topic?post=138701"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=138701"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=138701"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=138701"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=138701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}