Maria Cerny Brabb Scholarship
Scholarship recipients Nadya Clark and Jennifer Cabral with Gene-Ann Polk
Maria Cerny Brabb, M.D., WMC 1958 made an endowment gift in 1999 to establish scholarship support for female students at Drexel University College of Medicine and to support the annual operating budget of the Foundation for the History of Women in Medicine.
The Fund has provided scholarships annually and leadership financial support for the Foundation. Dr. Brabb made the gift in memory of her mother. The gift will live in perpetuity helping hundreds of young women who wish to study medicine, thereby continuing to write the history of women in medicine.
The Foundation hopes to establish scholarships for students who wish to work in the field of history, writing or archival endeavors in the future.
About Maria Cerny Brabb, M.D.
Dr. Maria Brabb’s journey began with her birth in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Her mother moved the family to Montreal, Canada when Dr. Brabb was five years old. Dr. Brabb received all of her pre-medical education in Canada.
Medicine had always interested Dr. Brabb; her family and teachers encouraged her to pursue this interest. After a rather unfavorable interview where she was asked why she wanted to take a man’s place, she sought out another medical school. After her interview and acceptance at Woman’s Medical College, she was satisfied that she would not have to face the same obstacles. Entering the WMC Class of ’58, Dr. Brabb was the youngest in her class at age 20. Dr. Brabb felt that her experience at WMC was very positive in many respects. The School was “female friendly” and the hands on experience she received prepared her for the practice of medicine. After an internship in Montreal, Dr. Brabb went to Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco for a rotation in internal medicine. She remained there until her retirement.
In 1999, Dr. Brabb made the decision to establish a Scholarship Endowment to honor the memory of her mother. She made this decision because she wanted to help medical students and she was also interested in the history of women in medicine. The Endowment will remain in perpetuity. Dr. Brabb recognized the importance of this investment in future physicians when she said, “I think the endowment is good because over the long run it will help more students as well as provide operating money for the Foundation. It was a gift with the greatest impact.”
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