Daniel Wang, 2019 Baylor College of Medicine graduate, with scholarship donor, Virginia ClarkVirginia Clark and Baylor College of Medicine enjoy a long relationship. Sarah Selleck, M.D., assistant professor in the Section of Geriatrics, served as Ms. Clark’s late mother’s doctor and provided an impressive level of comfort and care.
“She was so considerate, never once condescending, just unbelievably patient. She was incredible,” says Ms. Clark of Dr. Selleck.
Witnessing Dr. Selleck and her team go the extra mile to ensure a greater quality of life for a beloved family member inspired Ms. Clark to begin her philanthropic journey with Baylor College of Medicine. She and her sibling gave a gift to the College in honor of Dr. Selleck. Later, she restructured her Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to make the College’s Huffington Center on Aging one of its major beneficiaries. She points out that using an IRA to make a gift to the College is one of the most cost-effective methods of contributing.
In addition to support of the department that gave her mother comfort, Ms. Clark also looks to the future with an endowment to support medical student scholarships. “Young doctors are graduating frequently with a significant amount of debt and that constrains them to go into high-paying specialties… that’s not where we really need more people,” Ms. Clark explains,
“We need more family doctors, geriatricians, pediatricians, OB-GYNs… those are the areas where we really need more physicians, but financial pressures force them to become specialists. It’s a vicious circle.”
As a retired geophysicist, Ms. Clark enjoys knowing that her donations have sent students and faculty to conferences, exposing them to some of the most innovative medical research being conducted today. She knows how exciting it can be to see firsthand the scientific advances on the horizon and how direct exposure to industry leaders enriches a lifelong education.
“What I hope is that… we will be educating more young physicians who will be in charge of giving the appropriate level of care so that, if we’re lucky enough to age, you don’t end up [being] overtreated,” she says.
In addition to her work with students, Ms. Clark serves on the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Advisory Council and holds a lifetime membership with The Partnership for Baylor College of Medicine. A regular attendee of Partnership events, she lauds the volunteer group’s work in making the College’s world-class science accessible to a general audience. To Ms. Clark, supporting education bridges the gap between honoring those who bettered the past and intellectually nourishing those who will better the future.