The Burleson Foundation funds record number of medical scholarships and new endowed professorship.Paul W. Burleson, M.D., served the School of Medicine as an internist for 35 years, from his initial appointment as an instructor in medicine in 1951 to his retirement in 1986 after many years as associate professor of clinical medicine. He was active in numerous professional organizations, serving in leadership roles locally and nationally. But perhaps his greatest legacy within the school is the lasting impact of he and his wife Martha’s philanthropic giving, which continues to shape the lives of medical students and internal medicine training at UAB.
From his own experience, Burleson was keenly aware of the heavy financial burden medical school debt creates for students. He also wanted to encourage Alabama’s best and brightest students to train in Alabama rather than be lured away by out-of-state medical schools. For those reasons, he and Martha made outright and testamentary gifts to the School of Medicine to establish the Paul W. and Martha R. Burleson Medical Scholarship Endowment and the Paul W. Burleson Scholarship Foundation, which provides medical student scholarship and internal medicine faculty support. To date, the School of Medicine has received nearly $4.7 million in gifts and pledges from the Burlesons and the foundation.
Since the foundation’s creation over a decade ago, the Paul W. Burleson, M.D., Medical Scholarship has become one of the most generous and prestigious scholarships in the School of Medicine. The scholarships are awarded to students with high academic standing and financial need, with preference being given to those students who are residents of Alabama and who are interested in practicing internal medicine in the state of Alabama upon completion of their training. This year, the foundation is funding 10 medical students—three at full cost of attendance, and seven at near-full cost of attendance. This is the most students it has supported in a single academic year and the most ever given for medical student scholarships in a given year for awarding outright. The foundation also made a $10,000 gift to the Medical Student Assistance Program, which helps students with severe hardship or who encounter an unexpected emergency.
Linda Draughn, Martha Burleson’s daughter and Burleson Foundation director and trustee, shares the Burlesons’ commitment to supporting the future of medicine in Alabama. “Paul knew he wanted to leave something to the field of medicine because it was his livelihood and his driving passion,” she says. “Most desirably, the gift would help students and professors of medicine, alleviate doctor shortages in Alabama, and sustain a legacy of giving.”
“This is my third year of receiving the Burleson Scholarship, and I cannot express how much of a blessing it is for me and my family,” says third-year medical student Luke Bailey. “As a recipient of this scholarship, I have the freedom to choose a specialty based on where my heart leads me rather than the quickest route to repaying medical school loans. I am still very interested in the internal medicine path, and I am committed to staying close to my roots and practicing in Alabama.”
In tribute to Burleson’s lifelong passion for internal medicine training, at the end of last year the foundation made another gift to the school to establish the Paul W. Burleson, M.D., Endowed Professorship in Internal Medicine, which the foundation aims to grow to an endowed chair as Burleson desired. The endowed professorship will be held by the Department of Medicine faculty leader engaged in a planned UAB medical educators academy. This initiative seeks to help busy clinician-educators carve out more time for teaching and mentoring. The academy will also help faculty members focus on developing the best curricular resources and exploring the most effective means of training.
“Dr. Burleson’s service to our school and to medicine in Alabama continues more than a decade after his passing,” says Selwyn Vickers, M.D., FACS, senior vice president for medicine and dean of the UAB School of Medicine. “We are deeply grateful for the Burlesons’ and the Burleson Foundation’s commitment to our students and to our internal medicine programs.”
To give to medical student scholarships, contact Jessica Brooks Lane at 205-975-4452 or jblane@uab.edu; or to give to UAB internal medicine programs, contact Megann Bates Cain at 205-934-7408 or meganncain@uabmc.edu.
By Jane Longshore