Central's Svendblad receives pre-med fellowship from ESU

<b>Those participating in the signing ceremony include the following Bryce Heitman, family physician at Newman Regional Health and member of Newman Regional Health Physician’s Group, Tim Burnett, chair of ESU’s Biological Sciences Department, Amaya Svenblad, Muhammad Nashatizadeh, neurologist at the University of Kansas Hospital, and Brent Thomas, Dean of ESU’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.</b> Photo courtesy ESU — Those participating in the signing ceremony include the following Bryce Heitman, family physician at Newman Regional Health and member of Newman Regional Health Physician’s Group, Tim Burnett, chair of ESU’s Biological Sciences Department, Amaya Svenblad, Muhammad Nashatizadeh, neurologist at the University of Kansas Hospital, and Brent Thomas, Dean of ESU’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Photo courtesy ESU

Amaya Svendblad, a senior at Salina Central High School, accepted an Emporia State University (ESU) premedical fellowship.

She accepted the fellowship during a signing ceremony Feb. 26 at Salina Central High School.

This is the second year ESU has awarded the premedical fellowship. Amaya is the third student to receive the fellowship and she plans to be a surgeon. ESU’s Premedical Fellowship is awarded annually to an incoming freshman from a Kansas high school with a declared intention to follow the premedical track for preparation for medical school. The successful applicant will receive a prestigious $10,000 fellowship, payable as $2,500 per year for four years.

The Premedical Fellowship at ESU was created in 2017 when a number of alumni and friends in the medical professions came together with a shared goal: to recruit exceptional incoming freshmen and support them in their pursuit of being admitted to medical school.

"The establishment and continuation of the Emporia State University Premedical Fellowship Award demonstrates that ESU is sincerely interested in recruiting the best and brightest minds,” said Muhammad Nashatizadeh, neurologist at the University of Kansas Hospital and 1998 Emporia State University alumnus. “This commitment will afford students like Amaya the opportunity to obtain a strong science background in pursuit of what will hopefully be a long, fulfilling career in medicine to help others"