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University Communications

University of Richmond senior wins scholarship to Mayo Clinic College of Medicine

February 28, 2007

Matt Summers, a senior biochemistry and molecular biology major at University of Richmond from Madison Heights, Va., has won a full-tuition Dean's Award to study medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minn.

The Dean's Award is made to students based on their potential for success in the study of medicine. It is renewable for each year of study subject to continued meritorious performance. The medical school is one of the most selective in the country, accepting only 2.3 percent of applicants.

Summers is interested in several areas of medicine, including oncology, infectious disease and global health. He worked last summer at the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute doing lung cancer research.

"I am really excited about going to Mayo because there are only 40 students in the class and we will get extensive contact and exposure to some of the best physicians," said Summers.

Summers is president of the Richmond chapter of the American Medical Student Association and helps raise money for World Tuberculosis Day. He also has volunteered in the emergency department of St. Mary's Bon Secours Hospital in Richmond and conducts biochemistry research at Richmond on a DNA lesion that has been linked to cancer. He is a member of Mortar Board, Phi Beta Kappa, Gamma Sigma Epsilon chemistry honorary society and Golden Key Honor Society.

Summers will travel to Peru in March a part of an independent study course on infectious disease, global health and human rights. He will visit health care facilities in Lima and volunteer at an orphanage in Pampas Grande.