Third-Year Medical Student From Kentucky Wins Schmidlapp Scholarship

CINCINNATI—Third-year University of Cincinnati (UC) medical student Lauren Simendinger of Edgewood, Ky., is the 2010 recipient of the Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Scholarship.

The $15,000 scholarship is awarded annually on the basis of outstanding academic achievement, community involvement, leadership and involvement in women’s health care.

"It was an absolute honor to be considered for this scholarship,” Simendinger says. "The group of women who were up for this award, my classmates, are all so amazing and ambitious that I really couldn’t believe it was awarded to me.”

Simendinger holds a bachelor of arts in theology from the University of Notre Dame and worked full time with AmeriCorps in Chicago before entering UC’s College of Medicine. Her experiences as a health coordinator with the Amate House project helped inspire her future direction. Simendinger plans to go into family practice with a specialty serving adolescents in underserved populations.

In addition to her demanding course schedule, Simendinger served as co-director of the urban health project during her second year of medical school and is co-president of the family medicine interest group.

"I am immensely appreciative of this scholarship and will make it a priority to acknowledge the Charlotte Schmidlapp Fund throughout my career,” Simendinger says. "You can be sure this is something I will be compelled to pay forward.” 

The Schmidlapp scholarship supports one of the priorities of Proudly Cincinnati, UC’s $1 billion fundraising campaign, to transform higher education through private support. The scholarship is financially assisted by the Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Fund, Fifth Third Bank, Trustee.

The Schmidlapp gift is administered by Fifth Third Bank, trustee, and is connected by history to Jacob Schmidlapp, a prominent Cincinnati banker and philanthropist whose Union Savings Bank merged with Fifth Third in 1919. The trust has contributed over $1.6 million toward art, health and community initiatives. The scholarship celebrates the memory of Jacob’s daughter, Charlotte.