Endowed Scholarship
The Ruth Andrea Seeler, MD, Scholarship Endowment Fund to Address Shortage of Primary Care Physicians
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A board-certified pediatrician, hematologist, and oncologist and longtime faculty member of the College of Medicine, Ruth Seeler, MD, Res ’67, has been at the forefront of her field for more than 50 years. But she isn’t focused on past accomplishments. She has set her sights squarely on the future — investing in the next generation of primary care physicians. Students often opt out of primary care to go into more lucrative specialties so they can get a better return on their tuition investment. In response, fourth-year medical students who choose to enter such fields as pediatrics, family medicine, and general internal medicine have scholarship funds directly applied to reduce their medical school debt. This innovative idea is yet another example of how Dr. Seeler is one-of-a-kind. She was the only woman to graduate in the 1962 commencement at the University Of Vermont College Of Medicine. Within three months of her arrival at the University of Illinois to complete her training in pediatric hematology in 1967, she was running the teaching program in pediatrics. She was among the first to take the board exam for pediatric hematology and, within 10 years, she was writing questions for and proctoring the exam. Dr. Seeler influenced countless lives through being a clinician and educator during her nearly five-decade career at UIC, and this scholarship fund will continue to develop medical minds.
I could never begin to thank Dr. Seeler enough for establishing this generous scholarship. Having funds applied to my expenses when I was at University of Illinois College of Medicine made it possible for me to continue at UIC as a pediatrics resident and pediatric hematology/oncology fellow. My long-time goal has been to work with children with cancer, and Dr. Seeler helped me follow that dream
| Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Fellow