Summer 2025 Berks County Medical Society’s Pat Sharma President’s Scholarship
Applications are being accepted now for this paid summer internship. The program is designed to allow college students to explore careers in healthcare through mentorship and clinical observing experiences with practicing physicians and leaders in local government and nonprofit organizations working to advance healthcare in our community.
Time commitment: 6 weeks full-time, Monday through Friday. Exact dates will be matched with those of the 2025 Reading Hospital Student Summer Internship Program, which usually has a start date during the first week of June.
Stipend: $2000 for each of TWO students
Eligibility: Students who will have completed at least 2 years of college at the end of the Spring 2025 academic term and who have demonstrated an interest in a career in medicine or other field in the realm of healthcare, public health, or health policy. Priority will be given to students who are from the Berks County area or who are attending college in Berks County.
Primary activity: Research and write an article on a clinical topic or public policy issue in the healthcare field. The topic will be chosen in consultation with the scholarship program committee, and close supervision and mentorship will be provided by BCMS physicians and community experts. The article will be published in the quarterly magazine of the BCMS, the Medical Record. Articles written by past scholarship recipients can be found on the BCMS website, berkscms.org, in the Fall editions of the Medical Record.
Additional activities will be determined by the intern’s interests and could include:
Observing clinical practice, including surgery.
Assisting the Executive Director of the BCMS for a few hours a week to learn about the operation of this nonprofit organization and the many ways it serves our members and our community.
Participating in panel discussions with practicing physicians and with medical students, to gain insight into the process of becoming a physician and the variety of career paths available.
Attending didactic sessions at Reading Hospital offered in the Student Summer Internship program.
Application materials:
Resume (please include home mailing address)
Personal statement of no more than about 500 words, describing your career interests and how this experience would further those interests
An example of written scholarly activity (an essay or research paper authored solely by yourself )
Letters of recommendation are not required but will be considered.
Please indicate whether you are related to a Berks County Medical Society member and let us know how you learned of this internship.
Deadline to submit applications: Monday, March 3, 2025. (Notification will be by March 21.)
Forward applications to Lucy J. Cairns, MD (program coordinator) at ljanetcairns@gmail.com.
The BCMS thanks Pat Sharma, MD, and Ray Truex, MD, for their support of this program through gifts to the BCMS Educational Trust.