The University of Santo Tomas Medical Alumni Association in America (USTMAAA) has donated $75,000 to the UST Hospital (USTH) and Faculty of Medicine and Surgery (Medicine).
USTMAAA has targeted an endowment fund of $2 million for the activities of the association. It could donate the fund’s interest to the University through its financial arm, the USTMAAA Foundation.
According to Rector Fr. Tamerlane Lana, O.P., this year, the association of Thomasian doctors built up an endowment fund worth $2.5 million, surpassing its target worth $2 million.
Last year, after the Las Vegas convention, the USTMAAA Foundation gave a cash advance worth $50,000 to the University in behalf of Medicine Class ’79. The class pledged a total of $100,000.
The annual donation which varies from $50,000-$100,000 is used by the University to fund scholarships, renovate clinics and laboratories, acquire medical equipment for the hospital, and support projects of the Faculty.
USTMAAA held its annual grand reunion in New York last May. It continues to appeal to other Thomasian doctors in America to join the association in order to raise more funds.
“We should not rest our laurels, but instead, continue to work harder to assure its (foundation’s) lifetime existence,” USTMAAA Foundation president Dr. Samuel Fernando said in his message to his fellow alumni in the US Thomasian, the official publication of the association. Marlene H. Elmenzo and Miko L. Morelos
