Thursday, July 20, 2006

Writer:  Joelle Prine, 706/583-0727, jprine@uga.edu
Contact:  Don De Maria, 706/542-3240, demaria@uga.edu

UGA Franklin College graduate Westin Amberge awarded 2006 Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholarship

Athens, Ga. – Recent University of Georgia graduate Westin Amberge of Blairsville has been awarded a 2006 Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholarship to support his attendance at Yale University School of Medicine in the fall.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation was created in 2000 to give young people with outstanding potential the financial means to achieve their dreams through education. In its fifth year, the graduate scholarship program is one of many the foundation supports and covers tuition costs as well as room and board, books and fees for any recipient who pursues post-graduate education. The award is up to $50,000 a year for a maximum of six years and may vary between scholars.

Amberge is among 77 scholars selected nationwide from a pool of 1,100 applicants. Scholars are selected based on scholastic record, financial need and participation in leadership and community-related activities with a demonstrated motivation and desire to succeed. Any accredited college or university in the United States could nominate up to two students for this scholarship.

“Being named a Jack Kent Cooke Fellow is the greatest honor I have been given this far in my life,” said Amberge, an Honors graduate who received bachelor’s degrees in microbiology and cellular biology (a department in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences) in May. “To be included with such a talented and diverse group of students in receiving this scholarship is both humbling and inspiring at the same time. I am more determined than ever to use my education and training as a doctor to help deal with the global healthcare crisis.”

For three years while at UGA, Amberge conducted human embryonic stem cell research that could lead to cell therapy treatments for vascular damage caused by heart disease and heart attacks. He worked in the laboratory of Steve Stice, a noted biomedical cloning researcher and director of UGA’s Regenerative Bioscience Center.

Amberge founded and led the UGA chapter of the Foundation for the International Medical Relief of Children, a non-profit organization focused on providing healthcare to children in need around the globe. He also traveled abroad to do medical relief volunteer work in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Peru.

Among his honors, Amberge was a summer biomedical research fellow through UGA’s Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities and UGA’s Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute. His awards from the Honors Program included being named a William Moore Crane Leadership Scholar and receiving the Alan J. Jaworski Science Award.
“Wes is an outstanding scholar and a campus and community leader,” said Donald De Maria, faculty advisor for the Cooke scholarship and assistant director of the UGA Honors Program. “I am pleased that the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has recognized his commitment to excellence.”

Amberge is the latest individual from the Honors Program to win a major award this spring. Four current students received Goldwater scholarships while one other student received a Udall scholarship. Two recent graduates won Fulbright teaching awards and another was named a Merage American Dream Fellow.

For more information on the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and its scholarship programs, visit http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org.

For more information on UGA’s Honors Program, visit http://www.uga.edu/honors.

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