The Seminole County Medical Society President, Fernando Alvarado, MD, and our Scholarship Chair, Udita Jahagirdar, MD, have awarded scholarships to two deserving students for 2018.

Every year the SCMS Foundation awards two $1,000 scholarships to local high school students who demonstrate extraordinary scholarship, integrity, and a strong interest in science.

Jessica Man is the 2018 Dr. Luis Perez Scholarship Winner.

The Dr. Luis Perez Scholarship was established by SCMS in his honor and memory upon his death in 1988.

Dr. Perez had many core beliefs. One of the main ones was his strong belief in community service, to which he dedicated his life. In 1976 he received national recognition when the American Medical Association presented him with the Dr. Benjamin Rush Award for community service as the most community-minded doctor in America. Dr. Rush was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and left a small bequest in his will to be presented to the most community-active doctor in America on the nation's 200th birthday - the bicentennial.

Victoria Orindas is the 2018 Dr. Willie Newman Scholarship Winner.

The Dr. Willie Newman Scholarship was established by the SCMS Foundation as a perpetual scholarship to honor Dr. Willie Newman's 25 years of service to the women of Seminole County, to be given to a deserving high school student interested in the field of medicine.

A 2007 article in Central Florida Doctor magazine said that Dr. Newman had practiced obstetrics and gynecology in Seminole County since the early 1980s and played key roles in shaping the community's obstetric services, establishing pivotal programs in high schools, clinics, and jails, and he had become a hero and a friend to thousands of women and their families. He delivered more than 10,000 babies, watching as they took their first breath, smiling as they entered the world.