Smith Scholars 2020 Newsletter

Smith Sch lar Spring / Summer

A Hampton Roads Community Foundation publication

2020

U P D A T E

Ph ot o by J on a t h a n M cN a i r

Arlene Fontanares, MD

Ob-Gyn Enjoys ‘A Happy Specialty’ Growing up in Virginia Beach, Arlene Fontanares, MD, was inspired by the people working in medicine who were her role models.

As a child Fontanares would use her doctor kit to treat her dolls and her brother while pretending to be a doctor.

As a teenager Fontanares told her parents she wanted to become a physician only to have them say “we could not afford” her education, she recalls.

Determined to pursue her dreams, Fontanares graduated from the University of Virginia. She then studied at Eastern Virginia Medical School where the Florence L. Smith Medical Scholarship helped pay for her education from 1987 to 1990. To save money during medical school, she lived at home with her parents.

“I was extremely grateful for the scholarship,” says Fontanares, an obstetrician and gynecologist. She graduated debt free in 1990 thanks to scholarships and frugal living. She completed her residency at EVMS before joining Tidewater Physicians for Women as its first female physician.

Florence Smith’s Impact Is Eternal

At the Hampton Roads Community Foundation we love to tell the story of Florence L. Smith, the daughter of Norfolk physician Dr. Hy Smith and his wife, Julia.

Florence Smith passed away in 1952 as the last living member of her family. But, she remains a life-changing philanthropist. The charitable bequest she left to her community foundation created an endowed scholarship fund that helps Virginians become physicians.

More than 750 physicians have benefited from Smith’s generosity.

Medical students have received Smith Scholarships every year since 1953, including 15 currently at Eastern Virginia Medical School, the University of Virginia School of Medicine and Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine (formerly Medical College of Virginia).

Living Smith Scholars are at various life stages – studying medicine,

Dr. Arlene Fontanares

Fontanares calls obstetrics and gynecology “a happy specialty.” She delivers as many as 400 babies a year and is now “delivering children of women I delivered.”

Fontanares, the mother of two sons, says one highlight of her career is focusing on adolescent health care. Fontanares is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is a member of EVMS’ clinical faculty.

Outside the medical world, Fontanares is vice chair of the Philippine Cultural Center of Virginia. In 2019, she reconnected with the Hampton Roads Community Foundation that provided her Smith Scholarship by becoming a donor to the center’s new endowment managed by the community foundation.

in residencies, practicing medicine or retired. Some have paid it forward by starting their own scholarship funds at the community foundation, their alma maters or medical schools in their communities.

Smith Scholars excel in all medical specialties. They also are researchers, educators, medical missionaries and health department personnel. They have led local, state and national societies, including the American Medical Association.

Through endowment growth, Smith’s original gift of $460,000 to The Norfolk Foundation has multiplied while providing more than $2.5 million in scholarships. In 2010, a merger of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach foundations created the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, which administers Smith Scholarships today.

Florence Smith created a living memorial that lets her forever shape the lives of both the physicians she helps and the patients they serve. For that we are eternally grateful.

THANK YOU SMITH SCHOLARS TREATING COVID-19 PATIENTS!

Resident Specializes In Pediatric Neurology

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Wilderness First Responder certification while at VCU. She worked in VCU’s Outdoor Adventure Program where her duties included leading wildlife exploration trips and running a summer camp for Richmond children from disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Living in Salt Lake City at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains is a bonus With a love of math and physics, Cassie Turnage, for Turnage, who enjoys skiing and MD seemed destined for a biomedical engineering mountain climbing. career. But, this Smith Scholar shifted her focus after Among the highlights of her shadowing physicians during her sophomore year at UVA years, were having her poems Virginia Commonwealth University. published in the school literary Seeing how “the body’s intricate pathways work magazine and being selected together so elegantly” helped Turnage decide on a to attend a Design in Medicine career as a medical doctor, she wrote in her 2015 Conference at the University of application for a Florence Smith Medical Scholarship.

Dr. Cassie Turnage Padua in Italy. It was “inspiring to Today, the 2019 University of Virginia School be at the oldest medical school in the world standing where of Medicine graduate continues to explore and nurture critical the first dissection took place,” she says. pathways as a pediatric neurology resident. She was thrilled Turnage says the Smith Scholarship meant “I was able to in 2019 to match with her first residency choice – Primary Children’s Hospital, which is affiliated with the University of Utah keep my loans much lower and feel more confident entering residency and the increasing financial responsibilities of School of Medicine in Salt Lake City. adulthood.” Traveling to Norfolk during medical school As a first-year resident, Turnage is rotating through general for Smith Scholar gatherings let her know “a group of pediatrics before focusing on neurology. She is considering a accomplished physicians believed in me and my potential, career in academic medicine after her five-year residency ends. which helped keep me motivated.”

Turnage, who grew up in Mechanicsville, earned her

Cassie Turnage, MD

Original Smith Scholar Although 67 years have passed since Percy Wootton, MD won his Smith Scholarship, this former president of the American Medical Association still remembers how the scholarship changed his life.

Wootton, who grew up on a Nottaway County dairy farm, was a Lynchburg College senior in 1953 when he first heard of Florence Smith and her scholarships. Two Virginia medical schools had accepted him, but he had no money to pay for his education during a time that pre-dated federal student loans.

Wootton’s lucky day came when he read in the RichmondTimes Dispatch about the new Florence Smith Scholarship for Virginia medical students and decided to apply to the community foundation administering the fund. Of the 52 applicants, 26 of them were awarded $23,900 in scholarships as part of the first class of Smith Scholars.

“The scholarship paid for my tuition and my books,” says Wootton, who attended what is now the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. He is a retired cardiologist,

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Courtesy photo

Percy Wootton, MD

who became president of the AMA in 1997. His $1,000-a-year scholarship was renewed for all four years of his medical education.

In gratitude, Wootton donates to the Florence Smith Scholarship administered by the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. “I am sure there are many deserving scholarship candidates,” he says. “I don’t want to see them have so much indebtedness. I want them to be able to go into whatever specialties they wish.”

Wootton specialized in cardiology after seeing how heart treatment helped his grandmother. He joined his Richmond practice in 1963 and retired in 1998. He led the Richmond Academy of Medicine and the Medical Society of Virginia. At the AMA, he served on committees and the board of trustees before being elected president. He also has served on the VCU board of visitors and been honored as his medical school’s outstanding alumnus.

Wootton and his wife, Jane Pendleton Wootton, MD have three children and five grandchildren. While Wootton misses treating patients at his cardiology practice, he enjoys having time to spend with family. He is a history buff and avid reader who has read biographies of every United States president.

Dustin Wessells

“I have some aspiration for advocating for my patients outside of the hospital, whether through community service programs or serving on different boards,” he said. “I really do think there’s a big role that doctors can provide and fill in the community outside of the hospital.”

Wessells has gained experience Dustin Wessells, a third-year student at the through shadowing other medical University of Virginia’s School of Medicine, believes professionals, including Gov. Ralph that the best medical care is provided when doctors Northam, a pediatric neurologist who know and understand their patients’ full health is also from the Eastern Shore of needs and life situations.

Dustin Wessells Virginia like Wessells.

“I actually enjoy getting a chance to advocate “Ralph was my doctor growing up,” he said. “I ended up for my patients, asking them personal questions and trying to shadowing him a few times when I was in undergrad. He’s just a figure out what’s best for their care,” said Wessells, really good doctor to watch as a whole. His patients love him.” who has been helped by a Smith Scholarship since starting When he’s not with patients or in class, Wessells can be medical school in 2017. found playing soccer with medical school classmates on the As a medical student, Wessells tends to a few patients at Hungry Hungry Hipaas Team, a play on the medical privacy once, compared to the dozen or more a resident doctor can see act named HIPAA and the childhood hippo board game. at a time.

Upon finishing medical school, Wessells plans to marry By rotating through medical departments – from his fiancee and start his medical residency in 2021. Thanks to pediatrics to the emergency room – Wessells has learned how the scholarship support, Wessells said he does not have as much to connect with patients, accurately diagnose their problems college debt as his classmates. Therefore, he is considering a and communicate with other healthcare providers to ensure variety of medical career options and doesn’t feel pressed to a good continuum of care. That’s especially needed in rural pick a specialty based on earning potential. communities like his hometown of Accomack County on the “I have the flexibility to do what I want with my career in Eastern Shore of Virginia. He understands healthcare disparities the future,” he said. “I am very grateful.” facing residents in low-income rural areas.

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UVA Student Is Learning To Advocate for Patients

Photo by Glen McClure

Michelle Whitehurst-Cook, MD

Academy Honors VCU Associate Dean The Virginia Academy of Family Physicians honored Smith Scholar, Michelle Whitehurst-Cook MD, in 2019 with the F. Elliott Oglesby, MD Volunteer of the Year Award. The award is given annually to a physician whose outstanding service exemplifies the true nature of volunteerism.

Whitehurst-Cook is senior associate dean for admissions and an associate professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, where she was a Smith Scholar as a medical student from 1976 to 1979. She involves VCU medical students in her work helping under-served populations in Virginia to decrease health disparity and increase health equity. For 16 years she has volunteered at the Remote Area Medical Clinic in Wise with medical students.

Michelle Whitehurst-Cook, MD

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Smith Scholar Update In 2019 four new Smith Scholars won Florence L. Smith Scholarships and joined 11 returning scholarship students.

New Smith Scholars are

Michael Salomon of Midlothian (UVA) Jordan Tyrell of Loudon County (EVMS) Andrew S. Vipperman Jr. of Roanoke (UVA) Katherine L. Webb of Midlothian (VCU)

In 2019 five Smith Scholars graduated from medical school and entered residency.

New Smith Scholar residents are:

Michael A. Fox, MD (UVA) of Fairfax County, an orthopedic surgery resident at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Claire Harrington, MD

(UVA) of Chesapeake, a gastroenterology resident at the Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago.

Lance Irons, MD (EVMS) of Norfolk a psychiatry resident at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Omar A. Protzuk, MD (VCU) of Fairfax County an orthopedic surgery resident at the VCU School of Medicine.

Cassie P. Turnage, MD (UVA) of Midlothian a pediatric neurology Cou r t esy p h ot o

resident at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Richard Brown MD (left), who had the Smith Scholarship from 1959-63, visits with new scholarship recipient Jordan Tyrell at a Smith Scholar dinner last fall in Norfolk. Dr. Brown, a retired medical missionary, worked primarily in Kenya treating patients with infectious diseases. Tyrell is planning a career as a medical missionary after he graduates from EVMS.

Smith’s Generosity Inspires Donors

In 2019, 37 Smith Scholars and their families donated $33,515 to help amplify the impact of the Florence Smith Scholarships. Their generosity will help provide scholarships to current and future Smith Scholars. Donations ranged in size from $25 to $14,000 and came as checks, online donations and IRA charitable transfers. The average gift size was $905.

Thanks also go to: Smith Scholars and their families who have created their own scholarship funds at the community foundation: Burton D. Goodwin, MD Lewis K. Martin II, MD Alfred L. Schulwolf, MD Donald E. Sly, MD (deceased) Ashby Taylor, MD Marshall Taylor, MD

How to Give & Update Us 4 Hampton

Smith Scholars whose estate plans include bequests for medical scholarships through the community foundation: Anonymous Russell D. Evett, MD Burton D. Goodwin, MD Edward L. Lilly, MD Lewis K. Martin II, MD Donald E. Sly, MD (deceased) Ruth B. Weeks, MD (deceased) Dorothy Urban Wright, MD

Past and current Smith Scholars who gathered in Norfolk for a dinner this fall so they could connect and celebrate Florence Smith’s legacy.

Learn more at smithscholars.org.

There are many ways to help future medical students– from making current donations or bequest plans. Donations of all sizes are welcome. But, if your gift is $25,000 or more you can create a named, endowed fund. We are proud of all our Smith Scholars and appreciate your updating us on your career, accomplishments and any changes of address.

Contact Lynn Watson Neumann, director of gift planning, at lneumann@ hamptonroadscf.org or (757) 622-7951.

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