Three LSOM students selected as essay award winners

Winners will each receive a $10,000 cash prize

During Primary Care Week, three students from the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine were named winners of the inaugural Carolyn Ann Bellue Holly Annual Student Essay Contest.

The winners were chosen from four finalists who participated in a virtual panel discussion on Monday, Sept. 30. The finalists were third-year medical students Sophia Koo and Stephanie Ohagi; fourth-year medical student Danielle Wood; and Lilian Pham, who graduated from the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine earlier this year.

Following the panel discussion, Koo, Ohagi and Wood were named the essay winners and will each receive a monetary prize of $10,000. Those who match to family medicine will receive an additional $5,000 gift during their final year of medical training.

Each of the winners said they planned to use the winnings to help fund their education and future careers.

"I plan on using some of the money to help pay for travel expenses of residency interviews, some of it I will invest to help set my fiancé and myself up for future financial success," Wood said.

Ohagi said she plans to use the cash prize to continue to fund her studies. "… Given the time constraints of [my] third year making it more difficult for me to earn money, this amount would go a long way toward paying for my cost of living, application fees and reducing my student loan burden."

Koo echoed her fellow contest winners, stating that the cash prize will assist with education-related fees. "The majority of my contest earnings will go toward helping pay for my school tuition fees and rent for the rest of the year."

Pham, a runner-up, said she was honored to participate in the contest. "I am deeply grateful to James L. and Carolyn Bellue Holly for this opportunity," she said. "The contest earnings will enable me to invest in valuable medical education experiences that will enhance my professional growth and allow me to focus on becoming a better physician, while also easing some of the financial burdens from medical school and residency."

Essay contest honors alumnus' wife

The Carolyn Ann Bellue Holly Annual Student Essay Contest was established in 2023 through the generous financial donations of James L. Holly, MD, distinguished alumnus of the Long School of Medicine. Holly ­- a primary care innovator and leader who practiced for more than 40 years - created the award to honor the memory and enduring legacy of his loving wife of 57 years, Carolyn Ann Bellue Holly.

Holly built the world-renowned Southeast Texas Medical Associates (SETMA), LLP, an innovative and transformative patient-centered medical home and multi-specialty clinic in Beaumont, Texas.

Contest details

Fourteen medical students entered the essay contest in December 2023. Entrants were asked to review the content of Holly's 66,000-page digital archive and reflect on his career and how SETMA changed the course and future of medicine.

Using Holly's pearls of wisdom and reflecting on the patient-centered medical home model of excellence that is SETMA, students were asked to compose a 2,000-word essay describing specifically how they will create a new future for primary care, citing sources from Holly's digital archive to support their vision.

Nehman M. Andry, MD, clinical associate professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, reviewed all of the essays and selected the four finalists who participated in the virtual panel discussion to answer questions about their essays.

Nehman moderated the panel discussion, which included the following five judges:

• Christine Camacho, MD, MS, clinical assistant professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine
• Lauren S. Hughes, MD, MPH, state policy director of the Farley Health Policy Center and associate professor of family medicine, both at the University of Colorado
• Zaid Mahmood, MD, clinical assistant professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine
• Alexis Ramos, MD, clinical assistant professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine
• Yun Shi, MD, clinical assistant professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine

Each of the judges reviewed the finalists' abstracts and ranked them. During the panel discussion, they also asked the finalists questions and ranked their responses. The rankings were then reviewed and totaled to determine the top three entrants and a runner-up.

The cash prizes awarded to the three winners are from an established endowment from Dr. Holly.

View the finalists' abstracts and essays below.

Winners:

Sophia Koo's abstract and essay

Stephanie Ohagi's abstract and essay

Danielle Wood's abstract and essay

Runner-up:

Lilian Pham's abstract and essay

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