Shazain Khan’s path to medical school was influenced by his experience on the 2022 Spring Elks Scholar Service Trip to Seattle.

“As I walked around, I noticed something: people experiencing houselessness who were struggling in the early summer heat,” says Khan, a 2020 Most Valuable Student scholar sponsored by Franklin, Mass., Lodge No. 2136. “I knew we had come to Seattle to learn more about service, but this sight was an awakening I didn’t know I needed.”

Inspired by this experience, Khan learned more about the causes of poverty and homelessness. He hopes to use what he learned as he continues into medical school and beyond.

“Because of the lessons provided to me by the Elks National Foundation’s scholar service trips, I can employ holistic understandings as I enter the field of medicine,” says Khan. “The Weigel Medical School scholarship offers a flexibility to me that will propel me to investigate novel solutions to unique social determinants of health.”

As he attended Brown University, Khan volunteered at Clinica Esperanza, a free clinic that offers medical care to the Spanish-speaking residents of Providence. There, he learned the importance of community-based care, trust and diversity.

“Clinica Esperanza has served as an apt microcosm for the medical field at large, allowing me to apply skills relevant to holistic healing, patient advocacy, cultural competency, and systemic change,” says Khan. “It has helped me realize why I want to enter medicine and what I want my role in medicine to be; that is, I want to truly center marginalized communities and work to forge relationships between systems of healthcare and populations who are underserved, both locally and globally.”

Khan has a vision for the future of healthcare, and with the aid of the Weigel scholarship, he will seek to achieve it.

“I believe the future of medicine is rooted in notions of community, humanity, and global citizenship,” says Khan. “With the Weigel scholarship, and thanks to the lessons the Elks have already provided me, I envision myself being a part of a future to advance medicine, learn more about constructing effective community coalitions, and adopt lasting healing practices at both the individual and community levels.”

Khan will attend the Weill Cornell Medical College to study neurology.