Three of CCNY’s four 2016 Salk Scholars. From left: Muhddesa Lakhana, Joy Patel and Alex Bonilla.
The City College of New York is the recipient of four of the eight Jonas E. Salk Scholarship awarded by The City University of New York this year. The scholarships recognize exceptional students who plan careers in medicine and the biological sciences.
As Salk Scholars, Alex Bonilla, Muhddesa Lakhana, Min Gyu Noh and Joy Patel will each receive a stipend of $8,000 to be appropriated over three or four years of medical studies.
Bonilla is graduating from the Macaulay Honors College at City College with a BE in biomedical engineering. The Brooklyn resident will attend Harvard Medical School.
Lakhana, who resides in Elmhurst, Queens, will receive a BS in biology from the Macaulay Honors College on June 3. She enters New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine in the fall.
Gyu Noh earned a BS in chemistry last year and enrolls at SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
Patel completed his BS in biochemistry program in February and relocated from Jamaica, Queens, to Massachusetts. He returns this fall to attend New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine this fall.
The scholarship is named for Dr. Jonas Salk, a 1934 graduate of City College, who developed the first polio vaccine in 1955. Dr. Salk turned down a tickertape parade in honor of his discovery, and asked that the money be used for scholarships instead. New York City provided initial funding for the scholarships that year.
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided low-cost, high-quality education for New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. More than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in the College of Liberal Arts and Science; Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture; School of Education; Grove School of Engineering; Sophie Davis Biomedical Education/CUNY School of Medicine; and the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. U.S. News, Princeton Review and Forbes all rank City College among the best colleges and universities in the United States.