In 2023, longtime Wertheim College of Medicine supporters Dr. Albert and Debbie Taño created a new scholarship that will cover the tuition of one FIU med student for four years. The first recipient is Roman Montes de Oca, who graduated from FIU in 2021 with a degree in biology.
“I’m so grateful to the Taños,” Oca says. “This relieves a big financial burden from me and my family. I won’t have to worry about how much money I’ll make to repay my student loan. And I can work somewhere that may not have a very high salary, but where I can serve the community.”
Oca chose to pursue medical school at FIU because the college offers students the opportunity to provide access to healthcare to the community while learning medicine through the unique Green Family Foundation Neighborhood Health Education Learning Program (NeighborhoodHELP).