Fall River, MA – Saint Anne’s Hospital Multicultural Health Committee has announced the recipients of this year’s scholarship awards for students enrolled in health care programs for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Pictured, left-right: Denise Paulson, of the Multicultural Health Committee; Dalia Karam; Naomi Alvarez; and Lisa DeMello, of the Multicultural Health Committee

This year’s scholarship recipients are:

• Naomi Alvarez, of Fall River. Fluent in Spanish, she is enrolled in biology/pre-medicine at Roger Williams University.
• Sarah Currey, of Sandwich, is enrolled in the neuroscience program at Dartmouth College. She is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish.
• Michelle Franco, of Dartmouth, is enrolled in the medical laboratory science program at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Michelle is fluent in Portuguese.
• Pierre Hriz, of Fall River, is majoring in biology/pre-medicine at Roger Williams University. Pierre is fluent in Arabic and French.
• Dalia Karam, of Fall River. Fluent in Arabic, she is enrolled in the pharmacy program at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences. Dalia also speaks some French.
• Amy Zhang, of Fall River. Fluent in Mandarin, Amy is majoring in health sciences and business administration at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

About Saint Anne’s Hospital’s Multicultural Health Committee

Comprising a cross-section of the area’s cultural communities and agencies, Saint Anne’s Hospital’s Multicultural Health Committee was created in 1985 to help the hospital in reducing barriers to the multicultural community and improving its access to health education. In 1987, the committee launched the scholarship program to encourage area bilingual or bicultural students to pursue education in health care. Since its inception, the program has, to date, awarded more than $92,000 to students who are enrolled in health career education and have demonstrated leadership, bilingual and/or bicultural skills, community involvement, and financial need.

About Saint Anne’s Hospital

Founded by the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation in 1906, Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, Massachusetts, is a full-service, acute care Catholic hospital with 211 beds and satellite locations in Dartmouth, Attleboro, Swansea, and New Bedford, Massachusetts. A member of Steward Health Care, Saint Anne’s provides nationally recognized patient- and family-centered inpatient care and outpatient clinical services to patients from surrounding Massachusetts and Rhode Island communities. In addition to national recognition for cancer care, orthopedic surgery, spine surgery, bariatric surgery, stroke care, and patient experience, Saint Anne’s also is one of just 20 U.S. hospitals to have earned 23 “Straight A’s” from the Leapfrog Group for patient safety since 2012.