Warren General Hospital Foundation endows osteopathic medical scholarship

The foundation’s more than $72,000 endowment honors osteopathic heritage of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties

August 3, 2009

By Anita Martin

Warren General Hospital Foundation has endowed a new osteopathic medical scholarship at OU-COM with a gift of more than $72,000. This marks the Ohio University Foundation’s first major gift of the fiscal year. 

The Warren General Hospital Foundation Endowed Scholarship supports incoming full-time OU-COM students who demonstrate financial need and are permanent residents of either Trumbull or Mahoning Counties. Scholarship recipients—up to two each year—may receive up to $1,500 each, with the potential for annual renewal. 

“The foundation wanted to directly support osteopathic medical students from Trumbull and Mahoning Counties to continue the memory of Warren General Hospital,” said James A. Lazor, D.O., a member of the Warren General Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees. “We hope to encourage medical students from the Warren area to pursue a quality osteopathic education and to remind them of the osteopathic heritage of their hometown community.”

Lazor served for 20 years as a physician at Warren General Hospital, which was purchased in 1996 by St. Joseph Health Center.

“The Warren General Hospital Foundation has once again demonstrated their dedication to medical education and the community they serve,” said OU-COM Dean John A. Brose, D.O. “I am very grateful for their generosity and for their enduring support of osteopathic medical education not only in Northeastern Ohio, but also at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine.”

Sharon Zimmerman, OU-COM director of medical development, emphasized the importance of medical education scholarships, citing the rising cost of medical education. “This gift will make a huge impact on future OU-COM students and their ability to pay for medical school and associated expenses.”  

The Warren General Hospital Foundation recently supported the college with $100,000 to help fund construction of the Ohio University Academic & Research Center. That gift will create the Warren General Hospital Foundation Osteopathic Medical Research Laboratory within the new building. The foundation is a permanent member of the Ohio University John C. Baker Council Foundation Circle.

“On behalf of the Warren General Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees, we are most impressed with the forward-thinking, clinically integrated curricula and the professional training that osteopathic medical students receive at OU-COM,” Lazor said. “The foundation trustees feel very blessed to have this college of osteopathic medicine in the state of Ohio, and to have the opportunity to support it.”