OU-HCOM 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 Heritage College of Osteopathic
Medicine (OU-HCOM), 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-HCOM 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-HCOM
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-HCOM 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-HCOM’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.”
