Two scholarships are available to MSU/CHM students

Two scholarships are available annually to MSU College of Human Medicine students.

Blake W.H. Smith Scholarship

In 1975, a graduate assistant named Blake W.H. Smith became the second employee in the newly formed Department of Family Practice. Smith was to devote his next 24 years to ensuring that the family practice faculty and staff developed the academic skill base necessary to become one of the pre-eminent family medicine departments in the country. Over time, he earned a doctorate in administration and higher education and moved into the positions of clerkship coordinator, associate chair for Academic Affairs, and senior academic specialist.

Smith's wide-ranging interests included provision of health care in underserved areas, primary care in developing nations, development of strong clerkships in family practice and in community medicine, and development of a strong research component in the department's academic activity. His premature death in August 1998 grieved his colleagues, yet his legacy included development of a family practice faculty well grounded in the rigors of academic life and with a social vision that extends beyond the walls of the university.

In memory of Smith, and to ensure that the goals that were close to his heart can continue to be achieved, a special fund in the name of Blake W.H. Smith, PhD, has been established.

Hough Scholarship

The David O. Hough, MD, Endowed Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in Family Practice provides an additional mechanism through which donors can support the development of excellence in family practice education.

The Hough Scholarship was established to encourage others to emulate the accomplishments of David Hough, who died in 1996 at the age of 50. In 1976, Hough and Douglas McKeag, MD, initiated the MSU Sports Medicine Program. His pioneering application of the principles of family practice to the field of sports medicine was nationally recognized for its creativity and innovation. He became director of the program, a responsibility he held at the time of his death.

The scholarship is awarded annually to a graduating MSU College of Human Medicine senior who has been chosen as the outstanding fourth-year student planning to enter a family practice residency program upon graduation. The student receiving this highly competitive award must demonstrate the healing spirit that was so much a part of Hough. This includes clinical competence, a great and demonstrated sensitivity to the psychosocial aspects of the patient/physician interaction, care and concern for others through professional and/or volunteer experiences, and a commitment to family.