Denver Medical Society is pleased to announce an agreement between the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and the Francis H. McNaught, MD Scholarship Fund. The newly established Scholarship Fund will support underrepresented students, including those students from geographic areas and socioeconomic backgrounds who are historically underrepresented in the field of medicine, and/or students who have face unusual adversity. Preference for these scholarships is also given to residents of the state of Colorado.

Each academic year, the Fund gives a gift of $40,000 to support two scholarships for CU medical students, which will fund 50% of their tuition for the year. The goal is to allow students the flexibility to pursue their goal of a medical career without the financial burden of today’s economic climate.

Dr. Francis H. McNaught graduated from Columbia University in 1878 with a degree in Obstetrics and passed away in 1940.  His esteemed career included serving as a Professor of Obstetrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in the early 1900’s and as a member of the Denver Medical Society.  His daughter, Grace I. McNaught, generously established and funded a trust in her father’s name for the purpose of assisting students who are, or will be admitted to, the CU School of Medicine, and who are acquiring a Doctor of Medicine degree. The Trust originally provided interest-free loans to these students.

In recent years, the Trust was modified to only provide scholarships. As a part of this process, over 90 borrowers had their loan balances forgiven. Denver Medical Society and U.S. Bank are honored to serve as Co-Trustees of this Fund. Many thanks to current and past DMS Board members, and former Executive Director Kathy Lindquist-Kleissler, for their crucial role in overseeing this process, in addition the incredible support shown by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus faculty and staff.

Please join DMS in congratulating all of the well-deserving students. We are so proud of them and their leadership both inside and outside of medical school. We can’t wait to see how they will impact our world as future physicians.

If you are a CU medical student who would like to learn more about this new Fund, please contact Ginny Castleberry, DMS Executive Director, at [email protected] or 303.877.1850.