Foundation gift to create medical education pipeline in Cleveland

The Joan C. Edwards Charitable Foundation will invest an initial $10 million to $12 million over a decade to create a medical education pipeline in Cleveland and prime it withminority and low-income students from John Hay High School.

The program has the potential to educate 98 doctors over the next 60 years through a potential total investment of up to $90 million, the foundation announced in a release.

The firstphase of thefoundation’s Health Profession Pipeline Programwillendowfull-tuition scholarships forstudents who want to get pre-med bachelor or medical graduate degrees at CaseWestern Reserve University, the foundation said.

Starting next year, one student per year from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Cleveland School of Science and Medicine at John Hay Campus will be chosento receive undergraduate tuition at Case Western Reserve. Meanwhile, members of the Casecommunity andUniversity Hospitals Case Medical Center physicians will teach and mentorstudents at the school of science and medicine.

A second endowment–the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Edwards Scholars Endowment–will pay medical school tuition forstudents whoheld the undergraduate scholarships.

“The mission and vision of the John Hay Campus of Science & Medicine is to nurture and bridge students into the medical field pipeline, which seamlessly aligns with the Joan C. Edward Foundation’s goals,” said Eugene T.W. Sanders,CEO of Cleveland Metropolitan School District, in the foundation’s release. “This school has the greatest assembly of prepared students who would be able to maximize all aspects of this award.”

The foundation also will provide a renewable grant to UH Case Medical Center to create the Edwards Fellowship and the Physicians Development Program, which will provide internships, and junior faculty and fellowship training awards.The first phase of the physicians program begins with a three-year commitment of $450,000.

“Mrs. Edwards believed deeply in the importance of giving underrepresented minority and low-income students greater opportunities to become physicians and that they, in turn, could provide medical care to underserved populations,” said Thomas M. McDonald, Cleveland distribution director for the Joan C. Edwards Charitable Foundation, in the statement.

“The foundation believes these goals will be best achieved by enabling partners in public schools, university education and health care to build on their already strong collaborative relationships,” McDonald said.

The foundation was created by a bequest from the Joan C. Edwards Trust in 2006 at the time ofEdwards’ death.Edwards was a philanthropist and former jazz singer. Her husband James, who died in 1991, was owner and CEO of National Mattress Co. in Huntington, W.Va., where the couple lived most of their lives.