FACES for the Future Graduation

On May 30, 2008, the FACES for the Future Program celebrated the graduation of thirty high school seniors. Each and every one of the graduates will attend college in the fall.

FACES for the Future is a program designed to inspire young people to become caring, insightful physicians and healthcare professionals. Through participation in a 3-year internship at Children’s Hospital Oakland, the FACES Program prepares underprivileged and minority high school students for careers in healthcare and the health sciences.

The program gives participants a chance to gain a deeper understand the particular complexities of practicing medicine in a diverse and often challenging world. The goal is to create graduates who through their experiences are inspired and motivated to pursue medicine as a career.

Participants have an opportunity to learn clinical skills, meet and interact with medical professionals from a variety of clinical areas, and explore the ways in which illness affects patients and their families. As a result, FACES students develop a network of friends and professional contacts in the medical community. Staff and physicians at Children’s Hospital Oakland, and other local experts, lead workshops and activities.
On May 30, 2008, the FACES for the Future Program celebrated the graduation of thirty high school seniors. Each and every one of the graduates will attend college in the fall.

Keynote speaker John Matsui, PhD, founder and director of the University of California, Berkeley Biology Scholars Program talked about the importance of diversity in the healthcare and research workforce.  Sickle cell anemia, he said, didn’t receive much research attention until 1960s because there wasn’t enough diversity in the research or medical communities to foster awareness.

FACES graduate and graduation speaker Ngoc Nguyen spoke eloquently when she said “FACES taught me how to be a better human being.” Before her experience in the FACES program, Ngoc believed a career in healthcare was out of her reach because she comes from a disadvantaged family. After FACES everything changed and this fall she will attend the University of California, Berkeley, on a full scholarship. She now feels she has a better understanding of her options because FACES exposed her to a wide variety of healthcare careers.

FACES is generously supported by numerous foundations, corporations and individuals. The California Endowment, Bank of America Foundation, California Wellness Foundation, Genentech Foundation, Y & H Soda Foundation, McKesson Foundation, The Amy Ensign Barstow Fund & State Street California are just a few of the highlighted corporate, private and family foundations that have contributed to creating and sustaining this wonderful program that helps talented disadvantaged youth in their first step to attaining a career in the health professions.