Posted February 9, 2022
Katz School alumni couple gives back
Through the establishment of an endowed scholarship fund at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Toni and David Wilkes will support students from underrepresented groups.
Toni and David Wilkes met in medical school at Temple. She practiced obstetrics and gynecology for two decades. A pulmonary and critical care physician, he retired last year as dean of the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
Last summer, Toni, MED ’82, and David, MED ’82, Wilkes—who met as students at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine and married—crossed off a big item from their wish list. The pair launched a $2 million scholarship.
The Drs. David and Toni Wilkes ’82 Endowed Scholarship Fund at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine will support Temple medical students from underrepresented groups.
The Wilkes’ hope is that the scholarship will not only help defray the high cost of medical education for medical students but also help the medical school attract and retain highly qualified students—especially those from historically disadvantaged backgrounds.
The couple’s convictions stem from their personal experiences as Black people in medicine and from the insights David has gained in a role he’s had since 2013: national director of the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
