Opening Doors: A Transformative Scholarship Makes a Medical Education Possible

Scholarships ease the pressure for all students, especially medical students. The receipt of a $100,000 scholarship helped alleviate the financial burden of a medical education for Elizabeth Titova, a first-year student at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine and a former clinical research coordinator at the Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI). 

Elizabeth is one of three students at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine who received an award endowed scholarship through the Helen and Herbert Fitzpatrick Medical Education Scholarship Foundation this academic year. 

“Receiving a scholarship is tremendously helpful,” says Elizabeth, a Fair Lawn resident. “I’m able to pursue more competitive programs that might take longer, with the added comfort of having such a significant scholarship. Paying off student loans is a great barrier to medical education, and I feel so lucky to be able to have this financial help.”

The Helen and Herbert Fitzpatrick Medical Education Scholarship Foundation earmarks scholarships for residents of Bergen County, where the Fitzpatricks were long-time residents. Herbert passed away in 1992, and his wife Helen died in 2021 at the age of 97. 

“Helen had arranged for creation of the foundation, and the awards began last year,” said Ray Cywinski, the former Demarest mayor who grew up next door to the couple in Oradell. He is among the trustees who reviewed the scholarship applications.

According to Ray, Helen shared that she would have liked to pursue a medical education but didn’t have the opportunity. Helen, who lived in Haworth at the time of her death, had been a longtime volunteer at a local hospital.The trust administered by the foundation provides a meaningful legacy – and an investment in future doctors - that will continue for the foreseeable future. 

“It’s a good feeling to know that the money is going to those who will eventually help so many more people,” says Ray. “Helen really had a big heart; she didn’t wear it on her sleeve, but when she knew she could help, she would help. The Fitzpatricks truly exemplify the model of paying it forward.” 

In addition to consideration of academic records and financial needs, the scholarships require that recipients have graduated high school in Bergen County and currently live there. The students must plan to practice medicine in the United States.

The daughter of emigres from the former Soviet Union, Elizabeth grew up in Fort Lee and earned a degree in Biological Sciences from Rutgers University. She plans to pursue an area of medicine in which she can deal with patients directly but also hopes to continue research. Recently, her work with colleagues at the CDI has been cited and her article was accepted for publication in the journal Viruses.

We thank the Helen and Herbert Fitzpatrick Medical Education Scholarship Foundation for their generous support and wish Elizabeth the best of luck in her medical education journey. To make a gift to Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, visit GiveHMH.org/SchoolofMed or contact Sheila Wolfinger, executive director, at sheila.wolfinger@hmhn.org.