Dorothy Brown Memorial Scholarships for Medical Students – Apply Today

The Dorothy Brown Memorial Scholarships are designed to support medical students in TN from underrepresented minorities with a career interest in surgery. The scholarship funds are intended to support a visiting rotation in a surgical specialty during the 3rd or 4th year of medical school at a desired academic institution in TN and out-of-state.

Self-nomination, medical school dean, or surgery residency program nominations are encouraged.

The application must include a nomination letter, CV, two faculty letters of recommendation, and a 500-word applicant essay describing interest in surgery and the selected academic institution for the surgical clerkship.

The application deadline is April 15, 2023.

Please forward applications to wanda@tnacs.org no later than April 15.

TNACS Dorothy Lavinia Brown Surgical Scholarship

Dr. Dorothy Lavinia Brown was the first African American woman surgeon in the South, eventually being made chief of surgery at Nashville’s Riverside Hospital. She was awarded a four-year scholarship to Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina where she received her B. A. in 1941 and became an inspector in the Rochester (New York) Army Ordinance Department as part of the war effort. She completed Medical School at the Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN in 1948. After a year’s internship at Harlem Hospital, she returned to TN for a five-year residency at Meharry and George W. Hubbard Hospital to become Assistant Professor of Surgery in 1955.

Dr. Dorothy Lavinia Brown was one of the first few African American women to be made a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the first single woman in Tennessee to be granted the right to become an adoptive parent, and the first African American woman to serve in the Tennessee state legislature.

To learn more about Dr. Brown, please click here.