DO funds scholarship for DO/PhD students at UNTHSC

Albert Yurvati, DO, PhD, chair of medical education at the University of North Texas Health Science Center Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNTHSC/TCOM), recently donated funds to create a new $72,000 scholarship for DO/PhD students at UNTHSC.

The scholarship, which will be continually funded every two years, provides $72,000 over a two-year period to a student who enters the DO/PhD program. The scholarship’s first recipient is Michael Wade, OMS II, who currently attends UNTHSC/TCOM and will enter the DO/PhD program in January 2021.

“I’m proud to be able to give back and re-invest in TCOM, my alma mater,” Dr. Yurvati said in a UNTHSC Newsroom article. “What I’m hoping for is this scholarship will create a spark among alumni, maybe different specialties, to get involved and create their own scholarships for other students. My observation is that in order for us to attract the next generation of osteopathic researchers, we need to create and sustain a well-funded DO/PhD program.”

Wade will be working with Dr. Yurvati and another researcher, Dr. Robert Mallet, on a research project that intends to improve the solution used to preserve kidneys before a transplant. The researchers want to extend the ischemic time of the kidney to up to 72 hours, which would give transplant recipients a better opportunity of receiving a kidney from potentially long distances.

Learn more about the scholarship program and the research project here.