Purposeful Giving: Dr. Myint’s Scholarship Legacy for Future Doctors
In tribute to a life defined by service, the Myint family established the Simon K. Myint, MD Scholarship at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in April 2025.
The generous gift honors the legacy of 97-year-old Simon Myint, MD, a thoracic and general surgeon, a 1953 graduate of Feinberg, and a first-generation immigrant whose journey from Burma to the U.S. embodies the transformative power of education and opportunity.
“I hope to help future doctors walk their paths with purpose, as I did,” Dr. Myint said of the scholarship. “Because when you support medical students, you are investing in the healing of the world.”
Born in Thongwa, Burma (now Myanmar), Dr. Myint survived the devastation of World War II in Japanese-occupied Burma. He remained focused on his studies and held tight to his dream of becoming a doctor. He eventually earned a coveted place at Northwestern’s medical school, a rare achievement for an international student in the postwar era.
During the war, Dr. Myint and his family lived in near isolation for four years. Schools and businesses were shuttered, foreign aid disappeared, and survival became a daily struggle. In his hometown, there was only one doctor, and diseases like malaria, typhoid, and cholera were rampant. Medical supplies were scarce, limited to basic remedies such as aspirin, quinine, and castor oil.
Dr. Myint contracted malaria as a child, an experience that left a lasting impression. He vividly recalled the chills, rigor, and weakness that overtook his body. That moment shaped his desire to help the sick—not just through a career in medicine, but through a lifelong commitment to healing.
“I began to wonder: What could I do to help others who suffer from illness?” he recalled. After graduating from high school in 1946, Dr. Myint began planning his next steps. An excellent student and fluent in English, he set his sights on a medical education. Rangoon University—once one of Southeast Asia’s finest—had been devastated by war and foreign occupation. He had little money and few resources, but he held fast to his ambition.
As a teenager, Dr. Myint came across a Phoenix Junior College yearbook at his brother’s school, the Methodist Missionary School in Rangoon. He wrote a letter to the school’s dean, Harry B. Wyman, asking for admission. Weeks passed with no reply, and Dr. Myint left for Lucknow Christian College in India. Then, to his surprise, a telegram arrived: he had been accepted to Phoenix Junior College in the United States. Thanks to help from friends, he secured passage to Savannah, Georgia, on a freighter embarking from Calcutta (now Kolkata). He borrowed $200 for the journey— a debt later repaid by his father.
Forty-eight days later, Dr. Myint set foot on U.S. soil for the first time and trekked across the country to Arizona. Dressed in secondhand U.S. Army khakis and combat boots, he knocked on Wyman’s door in Phoenix late one night. “I’m the student from Burma,” he said, to which Wyman replied, smiling, “Come in. We’ve been expecting you.”
Dr. Myint became involved with Phoenix’s Central Methodist Church, where the Women’s Group supported his education for seven years—passing around the offering plate at meetings to raise funds for his tuition. Dr. Myint took courses at Phoenix Junior College and at the University of Arizona, surpassing the requirements for graduation.
In 1949, his dreams of becoming a doctor crystallized in the form of acceptance into Northwestern's medical school. The Women’s Group from Phoenix continued to support his education in Chicago, instilling within him a deep sense of gratitude and desire to pay their generosity forward.
“That act of faith—accepting a young man from Burma with an unusual background and little means—changed my life forever,” he said.
Dr. Myint graduated from the medical school in 1953 and completed his surgical residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In 1959, he returned briefly to Burma, where he became the first surgeon in the country to perform congenital cardiac surgery. He later settled in Los Angeles in 1964, where he practiced surgery for decades, serving both in private practice and in Los Angeles County hospitals, juvenile detention camps, and underserved communities. During the Gulf War, he served as a surgeon in the U.S. Army Reserve.
Even after retiring in 2009, Dr. Myint continued his lifelong mission of service. He joined medical missions to Nepal, Ecuador, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, and the Thai-Burma border. In January 2020, mid-flight and en route home to Los Angeles from his final mission to Nepal, he was asked to evaluate a passenger whom he later speculated may have been one of the first cases of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I hope to help future doctors walk their paths with purpose, as I did. Because when you support medical students, you are investing in the healing of the world."
—Dr. Myint
Dr. Myint’s daughter and grandson both attended Northwestern. His daughter, Mary, earned a Master of Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management in 2025. His grandson, Arthur Pollard, received a Bachelor of Arts from Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences in 2015.
Mary Myint shared that future Myint Scholars will carry forward her father’s legacy, and that supporting scholarships helps sustain a global cycle of education, healing, and impact.
“All he wanted to do every day was to wake up a doctor and go to sleep a doctor,” she said. “I hope that sharing my father’s life of service and purpose will move others to extend care to those in need and contribute to a healthier, more compassionate world.”
Scholarships are a top priority for Feinberg, whose scholarship endowment stands at $267 million. The school aims to one day provide free tuition to all students, which will require nearly tripling the current endowment.
The need is especially acute as legislation going into effect in July 2026 caps federal medical student loans at $200,000. On average, medical school debt from private medical schools is much higher.
“I became a doctor because of what I lacked as a child and because of what others gave me,” Dr. Myint said. “Purpose, opportunity, and the unwavering support of people who believed in me—these were the pillars of my journey.”
For more information about supporting scholarships, please contact Larry Kuhn at larry-kuhn@northwestern.edu or 312-503-1717.
This story was published in the September 2025 issue of The Philanthropist, a newsletter for supporters and friends of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. View our publications here.