For the last few weeks, it has been the season of graduation, a time of transitions, when new graduates look ahead to their next important steps. That’s especially true for those graduating from medical school, who will be setting forth to many locations for their medical training or research pursuits.
Walter and Anne Gamble received the 2015 Dean's Medal from Dean J. Larry Jameson.
But, as Atul Grover, MD, PhD, the chief policy officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges, recently pointed out in a perspective piece, “For many, graduation day signals the start of years of loan repayments.” His statistics are grim: 84 percent of all medical school graduates carry some academic debt, and the median debt in 2014 has risen to $180,000.
The increasing debt that medical students incur has been a growing concern in the last decades. Grover notes some of the scholarship and loan forgiveness programs that are seeking to lessen the burden of the new physicians. In that time, however, the Perelman School of Medicine has been fortunate to have “two exceptional people,” as they were described by Dean J. Larry Jameson during the medical school’s 250th anniversary gala on May 15. For more than 20 years, Walter J. Gamble, MD, a 1957 graduate of the school, and his wife, Anne C. Gamble, have supported a fund that specifically aims to ease the burden of debt incurred by talented medical students at Penn. When the Gambles’ 21st Century Endowed Scholars Fund was announced in January 1993, representatives of the school celebrated a $10 million gift. The fund was to cover the full four-year tuition at Penn’s school for six students in each class. Over the years, that total has increased to 14 Scholars in each class.
Not only that, but as was explained back in 1993, the goal was to allow the selected students to have the freedom to pursue the medical careers of their choice and not overlook certain specialties or patient groups. As Walter Gamble, a former pediatric cardiologist at Harvard Medical School and the Children’s Hospital of Boston, later noted in an essay about the program, in his day, medical students “never faced the kind of debts that are confronting them today. Who knows how that might compromise their choice of career?”
When the 21st Century Endowed Scholars Fund began, there was no donors’ name attached to it. At first, Walter and Anne preferred to remain anonymous. But by the time the first class of Scholars were graduating in 1996, the Gambles had received so many heartfelt letters from the recipients that they decided to come forward. Since that time, they have been invited to attend weddings and have hosted events for the students. As Julie Linton, MD ’07, put it in Penn Medicine: “I feel incredibly fortunate to be connected to this inspirational, benevolent, and loving couple.”
The Perelman School, too, has shown its love! In 2012, the Gambles received the Lifetime Achievement Award, which is presented to recognize exceptional commitment, loyalty, and dedication to the school. And this month, Dean Jameson, noting the Gambles’ commitment to medical education, presented them with 2015 Dean’s Medal, “our highest honor.” Today, the scholarship program the Gambles created is worth $65 million and has provided 223 Penn medical students with full, four-year scholarships.
Since graduating, many of the Scholars have been helping under-served populations, evaluating drug treatments, working on vaccine development, focusing on women’s health, practicing family medicine with a preventative approach, and treating Medicaid patients. Part of the Gambles’ legacy is the career paths these Scholars have taken. Another part of their legacy is illustrating the importance of philanthropy and encouraging others to contribute to medical education in their own way.