The Franciscan Health Foundation announced that first-year medical resident Dr. Nishant Kumar is this year’s recipient of its prestigious Dr. Lowell Goldberg Memorial Scholarship.
The scholarship is awarded annually to the graduating osteopathic medicine student who has earned the highest clinical rotation scores.
“I feel very honored to have received this distinction,” Kumar said. “Each day I would go to a rotation with the expectation that I would just do my best, and do whatever I could to make an impact, no matter how small.”
The scholarship was established by Goldberg’s family upon his death in 1986 to honor his memory and to encourage young physicians to follow in his footsteps.
“We wanted to memorialize him in some way,” said Goldberg’s widow, Beverly Goldberg. “We thought that helping a student get through medical school and all of the training would be a great way to do that.”
Goldberg came to the Southland and launched his internal medicine practice in Park Forest in 1956. He later moved his practice to Olympia Fields and practiced in the area for more than 30 years. He subsequently held many chairmanships at the then St. James Hospital before being elected its medical staff president in 1981.
“My husband was dedicated to bringing high quality care to the south suburbs,” Beverly Goldberg said. “It was important to have good medical care and to attract practitioners who wanted to live in this community as well.”
Although Dr. Kumar has just graduated from medical school and has completed just three months of his three-year residency, it’s clear he fits that profile.
“Both of my parents are doctors, and I was greatly inspired by them,” Kumar said. “I spend every waking moment thinking about my patients and doing whatever I can to make sure they get the best care possible. I find every moment of that very rewarding.”
He will serve his entire residency at Franciscan Health Olympia Fields.