Illinois Medicine Honor Roll

Tomorrow, at-risk youth get the health care they need Harry W. Bergmann remembers the economic challenges of college and medical school during the Depression and the early years of World War II His resume was colorful, and grueling: testing canned peas for sweetness at Libby's, waiting tables at a women's residence hall, working for the Illinois Research Hospital, making 85 cents an hour at LaSalle Station Railroad Express. He worked in a library under a program called the National Youth Administration, part of the New Deal's Works Progress Administration. And when the war came, he enlisted in the Navy, which picked up the tab for the rest of his medical education in exchange for serving as an officer physician aboard a U.S. Navy landing ship tank. "I jumped at the chance to go in the Navy, and I had no financial worries after that," says Bergmann, who was posted to New Guinea in 1944. In addition to the Navy, Bergmann served in both the Army Reserves and the Illinois National Guard, retiring from the latter at the rank of brigadier general. To take some financial pressure off today's medical students, Bergmann has given $100,000 to endow the Dr. Harry W. and Ruth M. Bergmann Scholarship, which yields about $4,000 per year in aid. "I was fortunate enough to have money left over when I retired," he says. "I knew that I couldn't have afforded to go to any other medical school, and I had worked quite a bit while I was there. I hope to help someone else," says Bergmann, whose education also was partially supported by scholarships. The first Bergmann Scholarship recipient is Tamara Green, Class of '14, from downstate Edwardsville, Ill., who's studying for both her medical degree and a master's degree in public health. She's also part of the Urban Medicine program, which prepares physician-leaders to serve in urban communities. Since her undergraduate days at Washington University in St. Louis, Green has had a strong interest in health disparities and working with at-risk youth. She plans to seek a residency in internal medicine/pediatrics. "I remember, as a child, being sick and trying to hide it so that my parents would not be burdened by the financial costs of going to the physician," Green says. "No child should feel this way." Like Bergmann, Green has always worked two or three jobs to support her education, and she says the Bergmann Scholarship helped relieve that pressure. "This scholarship," Green says, "helps me to solely focus on my studies without having to worry about coming home after a 12-hour day at school and then heading to work." Bergmann, who had a long and distinguished career as a board-certified obstetrician-gynecol- ogist, had always wanted to be a doctor, but it wasn't an obvious or easy path when he arrived at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the late 1930s. He needed a vocation that would earn him a living in hard times. There was no room for entering pre-meds when he enrolled and the only spot available to him was for ceramic engineering, so he decided to be an engineer. Fortunately for the medical profession, he found that the required physics courses weren't his cup of tea, and at that point he was allowed to switch his focus to pre-med. Bergmann and his wife, Ruth, were married for 40 years when she passed away in 2004. He has two children, two stepchildren, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren— all of whom he took on a Disney cruise in 2007. Now, he's helping send students like Green on a voyage to their dreams. "I'm glad I'm in a position to help," he says. Harry Bergmann, MD '43, is glad to be in a position to help " This scholarship helps me to solely focus on my studies without having to worry about coming home after a 12-hour day at school and then heading to work. —Tamara Green " CELEBRATING TODAY | CREATING TOMORROW ILLINOIS MEDICINE FISCAL YEAR 2011 CONTRIBUTORS REPORT | 5

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