West Memphis native William Hawkins is the recipient of the inaugural Crittenden Memorial Hospital Foundation Endowed Scholarship, which was awarded at a ceremony earlier this month.
The Crittenden Memorial Hospital Foundation Endowed Scholarship was created to support a Crittenden County resident in their pursuit of becoming an osteopathic physician. Hawkins, who is in his first year of medical school at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine-Arkansas, was presented the scholarship by Crittenden Memorial Hospital Foundation board member Dr. Scott Ferguson at NYITCOM’s annual White Coat Ceremony.
“I’m grateful to the Crittenden Memorial Hospital Foundation for this gift,” Hawkins said. “My hometown means a lot to me and I’m extremely appreciative of this support from my home community.”
NYITCOM-Arkansas was established with a mission of producing physicians to help alleviate the primary care shortage facing Arkansas and the Delta Region, which aligns impeccably with the Crittenden Memorial Hospital Foundation’s vision for supporting the medical education of a student from their region.
“We are deeply grateful to the Crittenden Memorial Hospital Foundation for their generous endowment to help further the mission of NYITCOM-Arkansas,” said Shane Speights, DO, dean of NYITCOM-Arkansas. “It’s extremely encouraging to have community partners like the Crittenden Memorial Hospital Foundation come alongside us as we strive to improve health care and health education in Arkansas and the Delta region.”
Hawkins is a member of NYITCOM’s Class of 2023. Now in its fourth year, NYITCOM-Arkansas is scheduled to graduate its first class of approximately 115 medical students in May of 2020.