The Emory First-Generation/Low-Income (FGLI) in Medicine is an affinity group in the Emory School of Medicine (SOM) for medical students who identify as students whose parents/guardians did not complete a four-year bachelor’s degree and/or who come from a family whose taxable income did not exceed 150% of the poverty level. Our goals are to build a community of FGLI students in the SOM, broaden the scope of opportunities and resources for FGLI students entering medical school, increase representation of FGLI students in the admissions process, and facilitate access/availability to support that FGLI students receive during their time at Emory School of Medicine. In the two academic years since the creation of this group, we have expanded from around 30 MD students and one faculty advisor to nearly 80 MD students and 7 faculty mentors.
FGLI in Medicine has the goal of creating an annual grant of a total of $2,000 for four M3 or M4 FGLI students ($500 each) to use to refund part or all of the cost of attendance of a medical conference that they are a primary presenter/first author/speaker at. This grant will help relieve some of the burden of the cost of attendance and allow students to attend “away” conferences that they may have otherwise had to decline due to financial constraints. With this grant, students will have the opportunity to grow themselves personally and professionally amongst other students, faculty, and medical professionals at these conferences and further advance their career potential and outcomes.
"This research grant would be highly impactful coming from someone who is an M4 applying into a competitive surgical specialty. For my applications, research quantity (of abstract/poster/paper presentations) is very important as programs want to see engagement in disbursement of academic information. I have attended several conferences now that require the expected costs of attendance (travel, hotel accommodations, registration to the conference) as well as membership fees to each individual association. Having assistance with any of these fees would increase the amount of opportunities we (as FGLI students) have towards increasing our research experience and therefore becoming more competitive applicants in both the residency application process and as medical professionals and beyond (into attendingship, etc.)." -Emory MD program M4 (c/o 2025)
