May 24, 2004 :: No. 259
Future Doctor Wins Top Award
for Health Professions Community Service
Algele Cid Sumulong, a Cal State Fullerton
graduating biological science major who founded a program in which
students of the university visit and help terminally ill patients,
is the 2004 winner of the Kenneth L. Goodhue-McWilliams Award for
Outstanding Community Service in the Health Professions.
The award is named for an emeritus professor of zoology
and carries a $1,000 cash prize.
Sumulong, who will graduate magna cum laude, will
receive the award at the university’s Honors Convocation May
28 and will be recognized May 29 at commencement ceremonies for
the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
He currently is serving as president of the CSUF Volunteer
& Service Center Student Organization and vice president of
service for the campus chapter of the National Society of Collegiate
Scholars.
The 23-year-old Yorba Linda resident started his academic
career at Fullerton as an electrical engineering major, but switched
to biological science studies that could lead him to medical school,
as the result of being treated for an illness by a compassionate
doctor who happened to be his uncle.
Sumulong founded and directs Project GRACE, in which
volunteer CSUF students visit and help terminally ill patients through
the Orange County Heartland Hospice. He also has tutored extensively
at the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Opportunity Center,
and has served as a volunteer lab instructor and tour guide for
groups of elementary school students interested in science.
Sumulong, who will attend UCI College of Medicine
in the fall, will travel to the Philippines this summer for medical
missionary work.
He said that the campus Health Professions Committee,
which assists students seeking entry to medical and other health
professions schools, “is the greatest thing that ever happened
to me,” and praised the professors and staff members of the
university who have helped him with his dream of attending medical
school.
Sumulong is one of the hundreds of students over the
past two decades who have benefited from Cal State Fullerton’s
Health Professions Advising Office, which provides a unique support
and mentoring program for students seeking entry to medical and
other health professions schools.
The program’s Health Professions Committee —
composed of university faculty members in the sciences, social sciences,
humanities and administration — provides mentoring, career
counseling, advising, letters of recommendation and guidance on
volunteer activities and internships.
For the past 25 years, an average of 84 percent of
students recommended by the committee have been admitted to a medical
or other health professions school for graduate training.
Media Contacts: |
David Drath, professor of biology
and chair of the Health Professions Committee, at 657-278-3980
or ddrath@fullerton.edu
Christopher Meyer, associate professor of chemistry
and biochemistry, at 657-278-4173 or cmeyer@fullerton.edu
Dave Reid, Public Affairs, at 657-278-4855
or dreid@fullerton.edu |
|