The UCSF Fresno Latino Center for Medical Education and Research recently received a $225,000 grant from The California Wellness Foundation to support the Doctors Academy at Sunnyside High School in Fresno and the Junior Doctors Academy, located at Terronez, Kings Canyon and Sequoia middle schools in southeast Fresno and Washington Colony Middle School in Easton.
"The California Wellness Foundation is dedicated to health promotion, wellness, and education for California residents,” said Katherine A. Flores, director of the UCSF Fresno Latino Center and a Fresno physician. “Through their generous support, we will be able to provide local students with the academic support and enrichment opportunities that will prepare them to be competitive applicants to top universities and colleges as they pursue careers in the health professions.”
The UCSF Fresno Latino Center for Medical Education and Research developed the Sunnyside High School Doctors Academy Program in 1999 to academically prepare students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds for careers in health and medicine. A year later, the Junior Doctors Academy programs were established at the middle school sites. Nearly 300 students are served annually through the Doctors Academy and Junior Doctors Academy programs. To date, 100 percent of the Doctors Academy graduates have been accepted into four-year colleges or universities. Many of them are the first in their families to attend college.
For more information, please contact Bertha Dominguez, education director at the UCSF Fresno Latino Center, at (559) 241-7670 or [email protected]
