Sharon Zimmerman, M.P.A.
Director of Medical Development
Executive Director of Alumni Affairs

Dear Alumni & Friends:

We are thrilled to announce another OU-COM scholarship endowed by a health care foundation in the northeast corner
of Ohio: The Summa Foundation Osteopathic Medical Education Endowed Scholarship.

This scholarship, endowed with a gift of $100,000 by the Summa Foundation, is OU-COM’s newest osteopathic medical scholarship. It offers up to $4,000 a year to OU-COM students hailing from Summit, Portage or Medina Counties.

The new scholarship reflects the invaluable relationship between OU-COM and Summa Western Reserve Hospital (formerly Cuyahoga Falls General Hospital), which has been a site in our statewide consortium of teaching hospitals, the Centers for Osteopathic Research & Education (CORE) for 15 years and has maintained a close relationship with the college for more than 30 years.

Like the scholarships endowed by the Northeastern Ohio Healthcare Foundation—which honor Jerry A. Zinni, D.O., and Joshua S. Harmon—the Summa scholarship encourages OU-COM students to return after medical school to serve their hometown communities in northeastern Ohio.

In addition to strengthening the osteopathic medical talent in the Cleveland and Akron areas, these scholarships contribute to OU-COM’s mission of training physicians with a strong foundation in primary care medicine. Our college emphasizes the importance of primary care medicine, and we take pride in the fact that 62 percent of our graduates currently practice in Ohio.

Scholarships are vital to the future of osteopathic medicine in Ohio. Given the high costs associated with medical education, financial aid opportunities like these help students to shoulder the financial burden of medical school and, most importantly, to give back, whether by returning to practice in their local communities, pursuing high-demand fields like primary care, or serving underserved areas of the state.

“By supporting students from Northeastern Ohio who pursue osteopathic medicine, we continue our efforts to provide the best health care in our community.”

-Kathleen Rice
President and Chief Operating Officer,
Summa Western Reserve Hospital