NEWS from The Corvallis Clinic
Sept. 17, 2014
Judy Corwin 541-754-1374
CORVALLIS — “When I was told I was too small to donate blood,” Janet “Lena” Ferguson said, “I solely organized two blood drives for the American Red Cross.”
This is one example of the persistence, hard work and dedication to service that helped Ferguson become the 2014 recipient of the $1,000 Naibert Scholarship, awarded by The Corvallis Clinic Foundation. The scholarship is in honor of Dr. James R. Naibert, a family practitioner who retired from The Corvallis Clinic’s Immediate Care Center last year.
“We chose Lena because of her excellent references and a good solid essay,” Dr. Naibert said. Naibert’s patients chose to recognize his efforts by establishing the scholarship for area students who demonstrate an interest in working in a health-related profession that involves direct patient care.
Ferguson, a Dallas native, is an Oregon State University sophomore majoring in chemistry with a pre-medicine option. She earned a 3.98 GPA in her freshman year, during which she joined the Investigative Diagnosis Society, a club that familiarizes pre-med students with the terminology, diseases and situations they may encounter in the medical field. She also took a course that trained her to become a certified scuba diver.
Ferguson aspires to attend Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and then become a trauma surgeon.
In middle school and high school, Ferguson was involved in band and theater and wanted to become a musician. However, a comment to her mother and her mother’s response placed the health-field bug in her. “When I told my mother I was not afraid of the sight of blood, she said, ‘You should become a doctor.’ ” Her interest in medicine became a full-blown passion by her junior year in high school. She began taking community college courses in anatomy and physiology, medical terminology and health occupations. She graduated from Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis in 2013.
Ferguson’s extra-curricular activities in high school included cheerleading and being a member of the Junior Rotary Club, which provided her opportunities to volunteer for Live United, Walk Against Breast Cancer, the Salvation Army, and with helping to raise money to send polio medicine to Third World countries.
Since summer 2014, she has volunteered as a coordinator at the Community Outreach, Inc. free clinic in Corvallis. A lover of travel, she plans to raise money so she can go with Global Medical Brigades, which provides supplies, medicine and education to Third World countries.
She credits her father, Hollis, a retired U.S. Marine, and her mother, Elaine, a retired educator, for her capacity to succeed. “They’ve always been great role models in my life,” she said, “teaching me to be loyal, hardworking, and to never give up on my dreams.”
The Corvallis Clinic Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide resources in the mid-Willamette Valley that support health education, preventive health care, and the delivery of health care to at-risk populations.
