OU-COM student named AMA Foundation
Minority Scholar
Catalina Soto adds award to impressive list of
achievements
May 19, 2009
Catalina Soto, a second-year student at
the Ohio University College of
Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM), received a
prestigious 2009 Minority Scholars Award from the
American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation.
Soto is one of just 12 medical students in the
country to receive the award, which includes a
$10,000 scholarship. The Minority Scholars Award
recognizes excellence as a medical student and
outstanding promise for a future career in medicine.
Growing up in Colombia and later working with
underserved populations
in the U.S., Soto was exposed to inequalities of
health care in both countries.
Soto has volunteered for the OU-COM Free Clinic and
the Student Sight Saver Program, which conducts
community glaucoma screenings, and
she has participated in both the Latino Health Fair
and the annual Medicine Run fundraising event to
support the Free Clinic mobile care
unit.
This year, Soto organized the Multicultural
Extravaganza and served as both a teaching assistant
for osteopathic manipulative medicine and a group
facilitator for the OU-COM Professional Development
in Cultural Competency Program. Additionally, she
holds leadership roles in the college’s Surgery Club
and the Student Osteopathic Surgical Association,
and she mentors students in the Minority Association
of Premedical Students at Ohio University.
“I would like to emphasize the truly exceptional
nature of Catalina Soto. She will definitely be a
leader for our profession throughout the future,”
said David Drozek, D.O., OU-COM assistant professor
of surgery.
Soto received International Summer Research and
Clinical Experience funding through the Centers for
Osteopathic Research and Education (CORE), allowing
her to participate in OU-COM’s clinical rotation in
El Salvador last year. While there, she conducted
research about lead exposure among children.
“We saw the passion
of her presentation and the motivation to carry the
project forward,” said Grace Brannan, director of
the CORE research committee, on why they chose to
fund the El Salvador project. “You need that in
research.”
Soto’s research in El Salvador earned her first
place in the pre-event abstract contest at the
American Osteopathic Association’s Bureau on
International Osteopathic Medical Education and
Affairs (BIOMEA) 10th Annual
International Seminar last fall.
Also last summer, Soto received a stipend from the
Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Thoracic and
Cardiovascular Surgery to study the short- and
long-term outcomes of highly sensitized heart
transplant recipients at the Cleveland Clinic under
the supervision of cardiothoracic surgeon Gonzalo
Gonzalez-Stawinski, M.D.
The Minority Scholars Award promotes diversity in
the medical profession by supporting students from
groups that are underrepresented in the medical
profession. Less than seven percent of U.S.
physicians fall within groups defined as
underrepresented, including African-American, Native
American (including Native Hawaiian and Native
Alaskan) and Hispanic. Award recipients also must
demonstrate scholastic achievement, financial need
and a commitment to improving minority health.
“We are
pleased to recognize the accomplishments of Catalina
Soto and to provide her financial assistance for
medical school,” said Jean Howard, AMA Foundation
President. “Her academic achievements as well as the
variety of activities in her community speak to her
commitment to positively impact the health of
minority populations and the health care system in
the United States.”
