“You may have imagined that your gift would only impact one person, but let my standing here demonstrate that you are changing the lives of many.”
With those words, Najya Williams, Class of 2025, captured the essence of the Celebration of Scholarship Dinner—an evening dedicated to the idea that opportunity can change everything. In a room filled with scholarship donors and the students whose lives they’ve changed, members of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine (Katz) community came together to recognize the power of philanthropy to transform lives—and the future of medicine.
“Tonight, we celebrate opportunity,” said Amy J. Goldberg, MD, FACS, the Marjorie Joy Katz Dean, Lewis Katz School of Medicine. “The chance to move forward—to grow, to advance… to do or become something that once felt out of reach.”
She shared that scholarship donors, both those in the room and those who couldn’t be there, are doing more than offering support.
“You are giving opportunity itself,” she said.
“Your generosity doesn’t just fund scholarships—it empowers a distinct kind of medical education,” said Georgeann Moore, Associate Dean for Development and Alumni Relations at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine. “This past year, $5.5 million in donor-funded support was awarded to our students. That’s 229 students—one in four at Katz—who are now able to pursue their medical education with significantly reduced financial burden. These numbers are more than figures. They represent real students, real futures, and real impact. And for that, we are deeply grateful.”
Mission-driven, mission-inspired
Held just hours before students across the country would learn where they matched for residency, the evening carried a special sense of anticipation for the fourth-year students in the room. For Megan Cecchine and Williams, both members of the Class of 2025, it was a moment to reflect not only on the journey behind them—but on the future their scholarships helped make possible.
Cecchine, a Philadelphia native, described how her scholarship allowed her to fully lean into her education and clinical training.
“Because of this scholarship, I was able to fully immerse myself in my studies, enter boldly into my clinical experiences, and dive deeply into the world of medicine,” she said.
She shared a powerful moment from her sub-internship, when she responded to a patient in distress. As she calmly explained what was happening and helped prepare him for the arrival of the care team, the patient’s roommate—listening from behind the curtain—spoke up: I just want to let you all know how professional you guys are, and how proud I am of you.
Williams shared her personal history and experience as a testament that support for scholarships is about far more than finances. Inspired by the memory of her grandmother, whose preventable cancer went untreated due to mistrust of the healthcare system, Williams’ scholarship gave her the chance to become the physician she was meant to be.
“You have made the dreams of my mother come true in the best of ways. You’ve made my own dreams come true,” she told donors. “And allowed me to honor my grandmother’s life, even in death.”
At noon the following day, Cecchine matched in Internal Medicine at Philadelphia’s Jefferson Health, and Williams matched in Family Medicine at UPMC St. Margaret in Pittsburgh, PA.