<< Back to Newsletter

Hertz Fellow Receives $250,000 Honor

Joshua Waitzman was named a Hertz Fellow, an honor providing $250,000 in support for his graduate studies.

Joshua Waitzman completed his first two years of medical school at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine and passed his board exams. Now he is in graduate school, working intensely in a Feinberg lab that focuses on tiny molecular motors. He has five years of study to go before he receives his MD and PhD degrees.

Ultimately, he would like to lead a biophysics research group while seeing patients.

Waitzman was named a Hertz Fellow by the The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, an honor that provides $250,000 in no-strings-attached support for graduate studies.

He is one of 15 young student leaders in the applied sciences and engineering fields selected from a national pool of nearly 600 applicants. Recipients must display high academic achievement and the capacity to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field.

Feinberg Student Wins AMA Foundation Award

Sebastian Lara, an MD/MA student at Feinberg, is presented with an American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation 2010 Leadership Award by AMA President J. James Rohack.

Sebastian W. Lara was awarded an American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation 2010 Leadership Award. The award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding non-clinical leadership skills in advocacy, community service, and education.

Lara, one of only 20 medical students nationally to receive the honor this year, is very active in the Feinberg community. He teaches classmates as a coordinator of the Medical Spanish program, leads the Northwestern Catholic Medical Students Association, and is president of Northwestern University Alliance for International Development, a student group that sponsors medical service trips to the Caribbean and Central America and conducts multiple health projects for local Chicago neighborhoods.

Lara was presented with the award at a recent awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., where he received special training to develop his skills as a leader in organized medicine and community affairs. Award ceremony attendees included U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Surgeon General of the United States Regina Benjamin.

Five Recognized with Senate Service Awards

This year's Student Senate award winners include: Nicole Araneta, Zachary Bay, Timi Wusu, Christine O'Conor, and Patrick Tyler. They were recognized during the Founders' Day ceremony for their volunteer efforts and contributions.

By Katie Costello, Feinberg Staff

As part of the Founders' Day celebration, an orientation week event where the matriculating class of medical students receive their first white coats, several second-year students were honored with service awards from the Student Senate for their volunteer efforts during the previous year.

Five honorees were nominated by their peers and recognized for their special contributions during Founders' Day:

Nicki Araneta made good use of her organizational skills in the past year for the benefit of the Class of 2013. She is a coordinator for Chinatown Clinic, and as a board member of the Feinberg Cancer Society (Oncology Interest Group) board, she helped to coordinate student participation in the Lurie Cancer Walk. She also acted as one of the coordinators of the Anatomy Closing Ceremony as well as the FUSION cultural show.  And when she wasn't organizing social events for the class, she impressively braved the Chicago winter to take the Polar Plunge for the Special Olympics this past January.

Zachary Bay has consistently shown the highest level of commitment to working on behalf of underserved populations, both in the community and around the world. Locally, he volunteers regularly at the Community Health Clinic, serves as a coordinator for the New Life Volunteer Society (NLVS) clinic, and works at the Inspiration Café soup kitchen. On an international level, he worked hard to raise money for those affected by the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. He also is very active with the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), serving as co-president and working to coordinate events, including a special effort at the end of 2009 to organize a Northwestern field trip for underserved middle school students, several of whom had recently lost loved ones to violence.

Christine O'Conor has, among other things, put her Spanish skills to good use. She employs them at the Community Health Clinics, and even brought them all the way to Nicaragua with NU-AID this past winter. She also works with NU-AID's education and sustainability committee and is helping to coordinate this year's trips for other students. As a student in the Masters in Public Health program, she has taken many opportunities to engage in such community work, including health education for low-income high school students.

Patrick Tyler has brought his surgical mentality to many projects this past year, most notably the Practice Practical for Unit V. Polling classmates weeks in advance for the best examples, he spent hours preparing and reviewing each laboratory section for the study aid. He also has worked on events as a board member of the Loyal Davis Surgical Society, and he helped organize the Anatomy Closing Ceremony, at which he also read an original piece. And his Senior Buddy, Lorraine (a participant in the Northwestern Buddy Program through which first-year medical students are paired with early-stage Alzheimer's patients), with whom he visited regularly, would certainly be upset if his efforts on her behalf were not mentioned here!

Timi Wusu is one of Feinberg's biggest promoters. Whether he is volunteering as a tour guide or engaging prospective students during Second Look, Timi enthusiastically welcomes all visitors to the school. He also is a member of the Student National Medical Association, and he has worked hard to bring together students from different classes—and even schools— as chair of the Thompson Society and a member of the Orientation Week Committee. Perhaps most importantly, who can forget his morale-boosting, pain-inducing, Booty-Blasting Workouts on Ohio Street Beach?

<< Back to Newsletter