Two third-year students in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, Jenna Marek and Pranit Singh, received scholarships this week from the Hillsborough County Medical Association to recognize their outstanding educational achievements.
Marek received the HCMA / Rivero, Gordimer & Company scholarship. They are HCMA’s CPA firm and have helped continue the tradition of this annual scholarship, which was established by HCMA in 1979.
Singh received the HCMA Foundation scholarship. In 2008, the HCMA Foundation matched the HCMA scholarship and has continued to do so each year.
“We are deeply grateful for the generosity of the HCMA in helping so many of our outstanding medical students fund their educations over the years,” said Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, executive vice president of USF Health and dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. “I’m delighted to see Jenna Marek and Pranit Singh be recognized in this way. They have both demonstrated a heartfelt commitment to helping patients and are going to be among the next generation’s leaders in shaping improvements in health policy and patient access.”
Marek, founder of the Morsani College of Medicine’s chapter of Doctors Without Borders, is an advocate for local and global health equity. She has served in leadership roles in the Bridge Clinic, Tampa Bay Street Medicine Refugee Clinic and Project World Health. She also has been class leader of the International Medicine Scholarly Concentration.
Last year, as president of Project World Health, she organized the inaugural post-COVID medical service trip to the Dominican Republic. This trip received the 2023 Community Engagement Project of the Year award from the Morsani College of Medicine.
Looking ahead, Marek aspires to address health inequities in global surgery, provide pro-bono cardiac surgical care in under-resourced communities, and contribute to the training and advancement of local surgeons internationally.
Singh is deeply interested in both public health and radiation oncology—his residency choice-- and hopes to follow both interests after medical school by seeking to advance scientific outcomes at a population level.
Before medical school, Singh volunteered in a free clinic and at a service center for immigrant families, working there to help impact food security and access in and around the city. He also served as a member of AmeriCorps and the New England Epilepsy Foundation.
Singh currently serves as the co-director of the Tampa Bay Street Medicine Refugee Clinic, overseeing the clinic flow and maintaining communication with advisors, partners, and the student body. He also participates in the Florida AHEC Scholars Program.
He is currently researching how virtual reality can be used to help educate healthcare providers worldwide on brachytherapy treatments for prostate cancer.