2026 STFM Foundation Student Scholars

January 26, 2026 — STFM is thrilled to announce the 2026 class of the STFM Foundation Student Scholarship.The STFM Foundation Student Scholarship provides opportunities for medical students to attend the STFM Conference on Medical Student Education and present their work to hundreds of family medicine educators. The conference will be January 29–February 1 in Charlotte, NC.Below is the 2026 class of the STFM Foundation Student Scholarship, along with their institutions and the titles of their presentations at the upcoming conference:

• Gergana Alteva, Oregon Health & Science University, "Healthcare & Culture—Engaging a Native Patient Population"
• Peyton Boyd, University of Colorado, "Equipping Near-Peer Educators with Skills to Address Challenging Small Group Sessions"
• Christian Cepeda, University of California, "Integrating Gambling Addiction Screening into the Primary Care Social History"
• Marí a del Mar Fletcher Ruiz, University of Missouri, "Improving the Care for Non-English Speaking Patients at MedZou Through Expanded Language Resource Training"
• Melfry Gonzalez Andujar, University of South Carolina, "Bridging Gaps in Care: Designing an Introduction to Correctional Medicine"
• Mike Mayer, Stanford University, "From Campus to Community: A Pop-Up Harm Reduction Outreach Project"
• Kate McGough, University of Missouri, "Evaluation of Medical Student Knowledge of Key Geriatrics Concepts"
• Angelica Mendez, University of Southern California, "The Impact of Tattoo Removal on Formerly Incarcerated and Gang Affiliated Individuals"
• Scott Orlov, Thomas Jefferson University, "Evaluating the Impact of a Student-Led Journal Club on Medical Student Interest in Family Medicine"
• Shivani Patel, MPH, Augusta University/University of Georgia, "From Curiosity to Career: A Mini-Med School Model to Foster Diversity, Reduce Disparities, and Promote STEM in Medicine"
• Maddy Pesch, University of Minnesota, "Sexual and Gender Health Education: Evaluating Knowledge, Attitudes, and Skills in Two Medical Student"
• Benjamin Popokh, University of Texas Southwestern, "Using Etymology to Enhance Gross Anatomy Learning and Long-Term Comprehension: A Mixed Methods Study"
• Alia Richardson, University of Chicago, "Impact of a trauma informed violence prevention workshop on Chicago youth perspectives of community violence"
• Ana Torres Rivera, Georgetown University, "Combatting Specialty Disrespect: A Pre-Post Survey Analysis of a Multi-faceted Campaign in Medical Education"
• Anna Trofimoff, University of Kansas, "Where Can I Go That's Safe?: Needs Assessment of LGBTQIA+ Individuals in South Central Kansas"
• Allen Tsai, University of Rochester, "Cultural Differences in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders in Asian Populations "
• S Herschel Uchitel, University of California, "Let’s Talk About Sex: Reimagining Sexual Health Education for Future Physicians"
• Alexa Weber, Medical College of Wisconsin, "Promoting Harm Reduction-Focused Perspectives Among Medical Students Through Shared Stories of Lived Experience"
• Shamiso West, University of South Carolina, "The effect of counseling patients to reduce no-show rates "
• Korynn Wolcott, University of Texas, "Enhancing Prenatal Infant Feeding Education in Family Medicine"

The STFM Foundation Student Scholarship is for medical students who have an interest in family medicine and the potential for an academic career in the specialty. Additional scholarships are available for those who have faced significant challenges, limitations, or obstacles in their journey to a career in medicine.Student scholarship recipients are invited to attend the STFM Conference on Medical Student Education. Each scholar presents a poster of their research project to hundreds of other attendees.