The 2013 Annual meeting of OSURA was held on May 8 and it was
again good news for five OSU students!
A total of $5,000 was awarded to outstanding students who are
interested in careers that promote healthy aging. The scholarship
program is one of the most successful OSURA activities because of the
involvement of the membership – contributing to the scholarship fund
and serving on the selection committee.
The following are biographical sketches of the recent awardees:
Alexander Boyd
Alexander a junior from Eugene is enrolled in the Pre-Pharmacy
program and the Honors College. He will begin the OSU Pharm D
program in fall ’13 while satisfying his bachelor’s degree
concurrently.
Alexander’s goal is to promote healthy aging as an ambulatory
pharmacist. He wrote in his application “I plan to promote healthy
aging by assisting my older patients with medication management
and education. In today’s world, these are essential components of
combating disease and chronic conditions and living a healthy
lifestyle
Deepthika Ennamuri
Deepthika a junior from Portland is majoring in
Biochemistry/Biophysics with a minor in Psychology and a member
of the Honors College.
As an undergraduate, she has been actively involved in summer
research programs at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National
Science Foundation, Linus Pauling Institute, and at OHSU. Her goal
after obtaining her degree in Biochemistry and Biophysics is to
attend medical school and become a primary care physician. She
noted in her application “I feel that the key to healthy aging is a
combination of a healthy life style, preventative care, and adequate
resources all of which are components that a primary care physician
may provide his or her patient.”
Claire Ostertag-Hill
Claire is from Portland and plans to complete multiple degrees in
Biology, International Studies in Biology, and Psychology as well as
a minor in Chemistry by June 2015. She also is a member of the
Honors College.
Claire is an undergraduate research assistant in the College of Vet
Medicine, and a peer facilitator at OSU’s Academic Success Center.
Her goal is to obtain a MD/PhD. in either Cellular and Molecular
Biology or in Cancer Biology. “I desire to advance our understanding
of a particular pediatric disease with the goal of elucidating new
treatment targets and thereby optimizing pediatric patient
management. As many older-age health problems are rooted to
some degree in early life experiences, I hope to initiate the
promotion of healthy aging as early as possible through a strong
focus on prevention and education.”
David Shumway
David is from Tualatin majoring in Biology while earning a certificate
in Medical Humanities. He is enrolled in the Honors College with
plans to attend medical school.
His extracurricular experiences include a preceptor internship at the
Corvallis Clinic, an ongoing undergraduate research position in a
biogeochemistry lab, and a supplemental leadership role in a
freshman biology class. He writes, “As an honors pre-medical
student majoring in Biology and pursuing a certificate in the Medical
Humanities, I have been preparing to serve patients and understand
their needs. In my future career, I would like to continue to
understand more about the root causes of aging to help ease some
of these issues for my patients.”
Kaitlyn Traynor
Kaitlyn is from Cascade Locks with a major in General Science (Pre
dentistry), a minor in Chemistry who plans to attend dental school
following OSU.
She has been an intern for the Boys and Girls Club of Corvallis
Dental Clinic, a lab assistant in the Zoology department, a fish
hatchery salmon tagger, and a volunteer at the Corvallis Chintimini
Senior Center. Kaitlyn states in her OSURA scholarship essay, ‘As a
future dentist, I plan to promote healthy aging through preventative
care education and take a conservative approach to treatment.”
Kaitlyn’s volunteer experiences with the local senior center provided
her with a different perspective of dentistry and senior citizens. “As
a dentist I will need to be especially sensitive to seniors who have
had negative experiences. This is a valuable consideration that I
would not have had I hadn’t decided to volunteer with the older
population.”