Ninth Annual FAU Schmidt College of Medicine White Coats-4-Care Donor Reception To Support Student Dreams, Enhance Healthcare Future of Community Monday, August 5

Photos By Downtown Photography

Civic and business leaders, healthcare professionals and community advocates are invited to the ninth annual White Coats-4-Care (WC4C) Donor Reception that will welcome and “dress and equip” the incoming Class of 2022 of Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine (CoM). Held on Monday, August 5 at 6 p.m. at Delray Acura Club,
FAU Stadium, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, the CoM’s signature annual fundraiser drives scholarship funding while celebrating the first and only medical school in Palm Beach County and the strides of its prior eight classes and embracing the next generation of Florida’s future physicians.

From left standing: David Green, Jon Kaye, Bonnie Kaye, Dr. Philip Boiselle, Dr. Stuart Markowitz, Pamela Weinroth, Dr. Allen Konis, Bryan Drowos Seated from left: Robin Bresky Esq., Melissa Azrack, Lynn Ouslander, Dr. Ira Gelb, Bonnie Halperin, Francine Nachlas, Debbie Leising, Robin Trompeter

Donors committed to the WC4C initiative play a vital role in a community that champions wellness, healthy aging and patient-centered care. Supported by Honorary Co-Chairs Dr. Ira and June Gelb and a diverse planning committee of community and medical school leaders, the 2019 WC4C donor reception is co-chaired for the ninth consecutive year by Kaye Communications PR & Marketing principals Bonnie and Jon Kaye.

WC4C funds help CoM attract, recruit, train and educate the next generation of humanistic clinicians and scientists – doctors who care and cure. With the average cost of a medical education reaching $250,000 in-state to $400,000 out-of-state, 85% of CoM talented students require financial assistance. Scholarship funds provide need-based financial support for its gifted students who do not have the financial means to pay full tuition and provide merit-based support to recognize their achievements.

“Most importantly, scholarships give the medical students the ability to choose a career path in primary care such as internal medicine, pediatrics and family medicine for which salaries are lower than other medical specialties, but the impact on our community is great,” shared Bonnie S. Kaye who along with Jon A. Kaye created the WC4C public/private initiative that to date has raised more than $425,000 in CoM scholarship funds.

Jon Kaye added that he is most inspired by the outpouring of support from the community for the students who will become our future physicians. “This ongoing engagement continues to demonstrate a deeply meaningful relational reciprocity as our community supports students as the students learn to serve the future medical needs of our community.”

To propel this year’s heightened scholarship mission, he reports that contribution options range as follows:

$200 Medical Student White Coat; donors’ names inserted in pocket of a medical student’s first white coat at White Coat Ceremony
$500 Medical Student Scholarship in memory of

Medical College Founding Dean Michael L. Friedland, M.D.

$1,000 College of Medicine Lobby Tribute (electronic recognition featuring donor name/logo
$2,500 Dean’s Fund for Excellence
$5,000 Named Medical Student Scholarship Fund
$20,000 “White Coat Society” (minimum pledge)
(Named Student Scholarship pledged and paid at a minimum of $5,000 annually for four years)

The 2019 WC4C committee includes Melissa Azrack; Robin Bresky, Esq. and Dr. Kenneth Bresky; Phyllis and Dr. Michael T. B. Dennis; Dr. Joanna and Bryan Drowos; Beth and Dr. Kenneth Garrod; Bonnie Halperin; Arlene Herson; Beth Johnston; Dr. Allen Konis; Deborah Leising; Loretta Litten; Elizabeth and Dr. Stuart Markowitz; Francine and Dr. Nathan Nachlas; Lynn and Dr. Joseph Ouslander; Constance Scott and Thomas Scott; Robin Trompeter; Eugenia and Dr. Thomas Tzikas and Pamela and Palm Beach County Commissioner Robert Weinroth.

FAU’s Schmidt College of Medicine officially welcomes its ninth incoming class of new medical students on Friday, August 9, 2019 at the College’s coveted White Coat Ceremony. During this event, each new medical student will receive a white coat that represents integrity, compassion and trust and symbolizes their shared commitment to serve patients and honor an oath they will collectively develop before the ceremony that will serve as their own code of conduct throughout medical school and as physicians. Students will find the names of donors in the pocket of their first medical white coat.

From left: Jon Kaye, Bonnie Kaye, Dr. Phillip Boiselle, Dr. Stuart Markowitz

From left: Debbie Leising, Bryan Drowos, Pamela Weinroth, Dr. Allen Konis, Robin Bresky, David Green

“For more than a century, the white coat has served as the pre-eminent symbol of physicians, and our White Coats-4-Care event is a wonderful way to memorialize this tradition while welcoming our newest medical students to the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and to this community,” said Phillip Boiselle, M.D., dean of FAU’s Schmidt College of Medicine. “We sincerely thank Bonnie and Jon Kaye, the planning committee, our advisory board members, our hospital and health care partners, and the entire community for their continued support of our medical school and our mission to educate Florida’s future physicians.”

Melissa Azrack, Lynn Ouslander, Dr. Ira Gelb, Bonnie Halperin, Francine Nachlas, Robin Trompeter

FAU’s Schmidt College of Medicine is one of approximately 154 accredited medical schools in the U.S. The college was launched in 2010, when the Florida Board of Governors made a landmark decision authorizing FAU to award the M.D. degree. After receiving approval from the Florida legislature and the governor, it became the 134th allopathic medical school in North America.

With more than 70 full- and part-time faculty and more than 1,300 affiliate faculty, the college has been nationally recognized for its innovative curriculum. To further FAU’s commitment to increase much needed medical residency positions in Palm Beach County and to ensure that the region will continue to have an adequate and well-trained physician workforce, the FAU Schmidt College of Medicine Consortium for Graduate Medical Education (GME) was formed in 2011 with five leading hospitals in Palm Beach County. In 2014, FAU’s College of Medicine welcomed its inaugural class of 36 residents in its first University-sponsored residency in internal medicine and graduated its first class of internal medicine residents in 2017.

For more information about the 2019 “White Coats-4-Care” reception, pledge a gift to attend the event or make a contribution, contact Director of Development and Community Engagement Shari Meehan at 561-297-2293 or meehans@health.fau.edu. Online event registration is also available at https://fauf.fau.edu/WhiteCoats.