FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, Jan. 7, 2019
Contact: Sheanna M. Spence, Director of External Affairs, School of Medicine, 304-691-1639

Given family helps future Marshall medical students by establishing scholarship

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A rural physician and alumnus, W. Douglas Given, M.D., and his wife, Mary, have established an endowed scholarship with the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine to assist aspiring physicians from central West Virginia.

A lifelong West Virginian and native of Strange Creek in Braxton County, Douglas Given graduated from the Marshall School of Medicine in 1983, where he also completed his family medicine residency. He practiced as a family medicine physician in Braxton County from 1986 until 2015, when he joined Braxton County Memorial Hospital. The couple’s daughter, Laura M. Given, M.D., also earned her medical degree from the Marshall School of Medicine in 2017 and is now completing her family medicine residency at Marshall.

The scholarship, known as the Given Family Scholarship, was established as part of the school’s Adopt a Medical Student scholarship program in memory of Doug Given’s parents, William Henry and Marjorie A. Given.

“My parents supported me continuously and sacrificed so much so I could become a physician,” Doug Given said. “Because of them I get to do something I love every day in the same community I grew up in. Mary and I feel honored to help someone else fulfill a similar purpose.”

The Given Family Scholarship is designated for first-year medical students, with first preference given to a student from Braxton County. Second preference will be given to a student from Calhoun, Clay, Lewis, Gilmer, Nicolas or Webster counties and third preference is for any West Virginia resident. The award is renewable for three additional years pending normal academic progress.

For more information or to make a gift to the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, please contact Linda Holmes, director of development and alumni affairs, by phone at 304-691-1711, by e-mail at holmes@marshall.edu or by visiting jcesom.marshall.edu/alumni.

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Date Posted: Monday, January 7, 2019