Health & Medicine 2024
EXCELLENCE IN HEALTH & MEDICINE
Adopt-a-Doc recipient Georgia Barbayannis, M.D. ‘27
Adopt-A-Doc Program Builds Bridges Between Generations of Caregivers
Georgia Barbayannis, M.D. ’27, had dreams of being a doctor since she was a kid. But she knew a top tier medical education would require years of study and years of tuition.
“I grew up in a working-class Greek immigrant household,” Barbayannis said. “I was the first in my family to graduate from college, and I grew up helping my father in his decade-long battle with cardiovascular disease. So I know how challenging it can be to access both healthcare and higher education.”
The GW Adopt-a-Doc Scholarship program, established in 2010 with a gift from Russell Libby, B.S. ’74, M.D. ’79, provides critical financial support to medical students over the course of their GW medical education. More than half of Adopt-a-Doc donors are GW alumni like Libby who want to offer a helping hand to the next generation of doctors.
“The Adopt-a-Doc scholarship has enabled me to focus on my academics and extracurricular activities while worrying less about student debt,”
— Georgia Barbayannis, M.D. ’27
Barbayannis considers her donor, Keyur Shah, M.D. ’04, and his wife, Natasha, to be role models. “I hope to pay the Shahs’ generosity forward by helping medical students from disadvantaged backgrounds achieve their dreams in the same way they have helped me.”
Over the last 14 years, 80 Adopt-a-Doc Scholars have received financial support and made meaningful connections with their donors.
And the future is healthy. Last year, dermatologist Antonia Kofinas, B.A. ’07, M.D. ’11, and fertility specialist Jason Kofinas, B.A. ’05, M.D. ’09, made the largest gift in the program’s history, which will support up to five students throughout their GW medical education.
As the first medical school in the nation’s capital and the 11th oldest in the country, GW's School of Medicine & Health Sciences has been at the forefront of medical education, training generations of compassionate health care professionals for 200 years.
The Helene Fuld Health Trust, the nation’s largest funder devoted exclusively to nursing students and nursing education, has supported more than 50 GW nursing students since 2021.
For the past three years, Dr. Adam Friedman, chair of the SMHS dermatology department, has directed a free teledermatology program that provides educational and medical support to underserved communities in Washington, D.C. The program is run in partnership with local and national patient organizations and has been made possible through grant support from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, and Eli Lilly.
The Milken Institute School of Public Health is among the top ten recipients of NIH funding in its category.
