$100,000 gift to TTUHSC El Paso to help generations of Foster School of Medicine students
EL PASO, Texas - A generous gift by Cliff and Martha Eisenberg with the presentation of $100,000 to Texas Tech University Healthy Sciences Center El Paso for the creation of a scholarship fund for the Foster School of Medicine.
This gift ensuring the borderland will have more physicians to care for the area's residents. “We know what it takes to fund a medical student’s education, with our own daughter, Lauren," said Cliff Eisenberg. "We also understand not all families have been as fortunate as we have been over the years.”
The Cliff and Martha Eisenberg Medical Student Scholarship includes an additional contribution of $75,000 from WestStar Matching Scholarship Fund bringing the total endowment to $175,000 which is a permanent investment that will grow in perpetuity.
"Today we are increasing the scholarship fund that we created last year, so we can help other students achieve their dreams of becoming a physician through the world-class education offered at the Foster School of Medicine,” said Eisenberg. In honor of their support, a row of study rooms in the medical sciences building will be named the Cliff and Martha Eisenberg Family Collaborative Space.
The Eisenbergs have a long history of philanthropy, they were among the first to help establish the Foster School of Medicine in 2007.
The study rooms in the medical sciences building will help students focus on working on cross-discipline teams and study. Like Krysta Caudle a member of the class of 2023, she was the first to graduate from high school, college and soon medical school in her family.
"As a lifelong athlete, the one fear in the back of your mind is getting hurt because your whole life revolves around being able to run and I’ve seen so many friends go through those injuries,” said Caudle, who played soccer her whole life. She plans to apply for orthopaedic surgery residency and work with athletes one day.
“That’s the reason I got into medicine. I want to get those young athletes back on the field where they love to be,” Caudle added.
El Paso County averaged 75% less than the national average for the direct care physicians per 100,000 people. That was more than a decade ago before the opening of the Foster School of Medicine. The county has seen a 57% increase in physicians as a direct result of the four-year medical school, a growth from 844 to 1,325 physicians.
