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News

UH grads head for med school

Provost Foss calls awards a reflection of the hard work of students, 
their faculty mentors

Cougar News Service

Two UH graduates were awarded a pair of national fellowships that will help them fund their medical school educations.

Biology and history major Azim Karim received the Merage Foundation for the American Dream Fellowship, which will provide him with $20,000 -- $10,000 per semester -- in award money. Hassan Kahlil, a biomedical engineering major, was awarded the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship.

"We are tremendously pleased that these students have received such national recognition for their outstanding work and creativity. I am delighted for them and for their families," Donald Foss, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, said in a release. "The University of Houston has many opportunities for undergraduates to obtain hands-on, individualized learning experiences. The success of these students is a testimony to them, primarily, but also to the faculty members who worked with them."

Karim, a native of Pakistan, immigrated to America as a child. Karim plans on becoming a specialist in cardiovascular sciences. In his first year at UH, Karim was a volunteer doing relief work in Central American countries.

"The task of providing medical relief to the villages is what I now believe to be the true essence of medical care -- a community of physicians working alongside a volunteer staff to combat disease and partner with families to provide service to patients," Karim said in a release.

During his years at UH, Karim was involved in research projects with area hospitals and universities.

"Azim is an outstanding student, and he has given much of himself to the community," John Bear, dean of the UH College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, said in a release. "He is very deserving of this award, and we are proud that he is one of our students."

The Merage fellowship -- which according to its Web site, is dedicated to promoting expanded opportunities for immigrants to the United States -- gives awards to about a dozen international students across the country every year.

Khalil, who came to the United States when he was a teenager, received $5,000 from the Phi Kappa Phi fellowship. He is planning on attending the University of Texas Medical School.

"Receiving this fellowship is an honor for me personally, but it is also great to represent UH and the biomedical engineering program in this way," Khalil said in a release.

Khalil's research has involved a project with artificial organs, and his work earned him a national fellowship from the American Society of Artificial Internal Organs.

His mentors at UH say Kahlil's volunteer work and research has served as an example for students in his field.

"Hassan has been an outstanding student in our biomedical engineering program and, as the first person to receive an undergraduate degree from the program, is an excellent model for other students to follow," Ray Flumerfelt, dean of the UH Cullen College of Engineering, said in a release. "What he has accomplished with his research into artificial hearts and circulation is of significant value and shows his strong potential for the future."

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