The future of healthcare in the Mohawk Valley was the focus of a recent gathering at the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties, where community leaders, healthcare professionals, and educators came together to celebrate the launch of a new medical school scholarship designed to help local students become tomorrow’s physicians.
Created through The Qandah Family Fund, the scholarship will provide full academic support for a student attending Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), one of the nation’s largest medical schools. But as speakers made clear throughout the event, the initiative is about far more than helping a single student pay for medical school.
It is about strengthening the future of healthcare in the Mohawk Valley.
For Drs. Nicholas and Juleen Qandah, who care for patients throughout the region at CNY Brain & Spine Neurosurgery, the need is one they witness firsthand. Every day, they see the growing demand for specialists, primary care providers, and healthcare professionals across Upstate New York, reinforcing the importance of developing the next generation of physicians locally.
Opening the event, Dr. Nicholas Qandah, neurosurgeon and founder of CNY Brain & Spine Neurosurgery, spoke about the challenges facing communities across Upstate New York. While quality of life, safe neighborhoods, and strong schools are important factors in attracting residents and businesses, he noted that access to healthcare remains equally critical.
“If we’re going to continue growing our communities, we need great physicians,” he said. “People want to know they have access to quality healthcare close to home.”
That belief inspired the creation of the scholarship, which Dr. Qandah described as an investment whose impact will be measured not in months or years, but over decades. He also thanked Alicia Dicks and the Community Foundation for helping turn an idea into a reality and creating a framework that can continue growing in the years ahead.
Dr. Juleen Qandah, an Emergency Medicine physician, partner at CNY Brain & Spine Neurosurgery and Mohawk Valley Living’s Health Editor, expanded on the family’s vision, emphasizing that the scholarship is designed to remove barriers for talented local students who dream of becoming physicians.
“For many students, the financial burden of medical school can feel overwhelming before they even begin,” she said. “We believe students from the Mohawk Valley deserve the opportunity to pursue those dreams without financial barriers standing in their way.”
She also spoke about the unique value local students bring to the profession.
“They understand our communities. They know the families, the schools, the challenges, and the strengths of this region,” she said. “When they become physicians, they bring a special connection to the people they serve.”
Representing LECOM, Dr. Richard Terry, Dean and Vice President of the medical school, highlighted a challenge familiar to healthcare systems across the country: recruiting and retaining physicians.
Too often, students leave the region to pursue their education and careers elsewhere. The result is an expensive cycle of physician recruitment that can cost healthcare organizations hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single provider search.
The scholarship, he said, helps create a different model.
“The goal is simple,” Terry explained. “Support local students, help them become physicians, and encourage them to come back home to practice.”
He praised the Qandah family for creating an initiative that not only supports future doctors but also strengthens the long-term health of the region.
Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. closed the program by emphasizing the importance of continued investment in the community’s future. He praised the Qandahs for their commitment and noted that initiatives like this help ensure the Mohawk Valley remains a place where people want to live, work, raise families, and build careers.
The inaugural scholarship recipient has already been selected and will be formally announced after matriculating into medical school. Looking ahead, the Qandahs hope to expand the program through additional community partnerships and encourage other organizations, businesses, and families to make similar investments in future healthcare professionals.
If the event demonstrated anything, it was that solving healthcare challenges requires more than hospitals and medical practices. It requires communities willing to invest in people.
For the Qandah family and their partners, that investment begins with a single student today and a stronger healthcare workforce for the Mohawk Valley tomorrow.
