Many Bermudian students attracted to the field of medicine tend not to be as daunted by the volume of studying and work they will have to put in to achieve their goal, as they are by the tuition costs.So it’s welcome news to those planning to pursue this path of study that Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has begun a scholarship for its international students.“The Bermuda Medical Students’ Society (BMSS) supports and welcomes any and all funding that will allow young Bermudians to pursue their dream of studying to become a doctor and return to the Island to practice,” said the Society’s Chairman Dr Alisha Gabriel. “It is wonderful that Bermudians now have this opportunity to apply for this scholarship to study medicine at such an excellent and reputable university.”Having just completed her studies this year, Dr Gabriel is well acquainted with the pressure of high tuition costs.“Studying medicine was really tough but what I found even tougher was being able to finance it,” she said. She attended medical school in Dublin, Ireland, and said tuition and living expenses ran about $100,000 every year.“Every year finding money to go back to school was a challenge,” she said. “I come from a single parent family but that shouldn’t be a barrier for Bermudian students.“It shouldn’t mean they cannot go away and accomplish their dreams,” she added. “My entire family was stressed by the money every year.”According to Dr Gabriel, there are no local scholarships specifically for medical students.She said she felt there is a need for such but admitted that medical students from many other countries have no scholarships whatsoever available to them in their home countries.“There are scholarships we can apply for in Bermuda, but there are none solely for students studying medicine,” she said.“This scholarship offered my Johns Hopkins is a really great step. We hope to see more scholarships like this in the future,” she added.A spokesperson for the prestigious North American university told Body & Soul that the new scholarship “is the institution’s latest initiative aimed at nurturing the next generation of healthcare leaders”.The scholarship is being offered by Johns Hopkins Medicine International, the global arm of the Baltimore, Maryland-based John Hopkins Medicine.It will provide financial assistance to aspiring young medical students who were accepted at the school of medicine in Baltimore on the same basis as their peers from the United States but who are unable to acquire additional financial aid for their studies.International students currently at Hopkins, as well as those who will enrol in the Hopkins’ medical programme in the fall of 2012, may be eligible to tap into the newly established fund of $80,000, an amount that will be increased by $80,000 each year, reaching a maximum of $320,000 in 2016.Studying at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine is the dream of many medical students and securing a place there is highly competitive.On average the institution receives 4,000 applications for the undergraduate medical program each year.In 2011, 189 non-US citizens and non-US residents applied; 24 were invited for an interview; 11 of them were accepted but only three were matriculated. That’s compared with 197 American students.It’s hoped that this new scholarship will help beef up the number of foreign students in the MD program.“We are pleased to offer this opportunity to our international medical students,” said Steven Thompson, chief executive officer of Johns Hopkins International. “For more than 120 years, Johns Hopkins has been a recognised national and global leader in education, research and patient care.“This scholarship is an important component of our core mission to help to raise the standard of healthcare around the globe.”David Nichols, MD, vice dean for education at the school of medicine said: “We hope that it will encourage talented young people who chose a medical career but who don’t have substantial personal resources to come to Baltimore and learn at one of the world’s most established medical schools.“We trust that it will also help us to nurture a new and diverse generation of leaders who will transform medicine around the world and improve the health of the global population.”Bermudian Malcolm Brock received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1991.He did his residency there, rising to chief resident in cardiothoracic surgery before joining the faculty.Today he is an Associate Professor of Surgery, an Associate Professor of Oncology and Director of Clinical and Transitional Research in Thoracic Surgery at the Baltimore institution.