First-year student wins Julita A. Fong Scholarship

A first-year student has been named as the winner of an annual scholarship provided to women medical students at the UC Davis School of Medicine.

Narine Abgaryan, a native of Burbank, Calif., will receive $2,500 as the recipient of the 2012-13 Julita A. Fong, M.D. Scholarship. The scholarship is intended for "a woman medical student, during any year of her studies at the UC Davis School of Medicine, who is a member of the American Medical Woman's Association (AMWA) and who is in need of financial assistance." Dr. Fong resides in Reedsport, Ore.

Abgaryan was among the group of students who founded an undergraduate chapter of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) at UCLA. As education chair of the chapter, Abgaryan helped increase awareness among students about women’s health issues. Those efforts included presentations and discussions on women’s involvement and opportunities in medicine, research, leadership and the effect of health policies.

Abgaryan is a member of AMWA at UC Davis and is co-director of the Shifa Clinic, one of several free community clinics in Sacramento operated by UC Davis medical students and their faculty preceptors. One of her responsibilities there is organizing specialty clinics, including those that focus on women. Through the clinic, Abgaryan is planning a research project involving breast and cervical cancer prevention and awareness.