Westra Short-Term Mission Scholarship Information
James S. Westra Memorial Endowment Fund
PURPOSE
To provide medical, dental, nursing, and allied health students and trainees with clinical and/or teaching experiences in mission settings that will enable them to become familiar with the cultural, social, medical and dental problems in developing countries while allowing them to serve the underserved. It is also expected that this experience will lead recipients to seek the Lord’s will regarding lifetime involvement in medical missions.
ELIGIBILITY
You must be:
- A CMDA member;
- One of the following:
- A medical student enrolled in an approved US medical school
- A dental student enrolled in an approved US dental school
- A medical resident enrolled in a US residency program or fellowship
- An allied health student enrolled in a US school that will lead to their clinical or qualifying degree (e.g. Physical Therapy school)
- A nursing student enrolled in nursing school in an approved US school
- A student enrolled in an approved US nurse practitioner or physician assistant school
- An undergraduate student doing pre-health studies
- Healthcare professionals who have completed their training two years or less prior to the start of their trip.
METHOD OF APPLICATION
Applications are reviewed quarterly. Your application must be received at least three months before your trip, but additional lead time is helpful in ensuring any funds awarded are sent out before you travel. Applications must be submitted online via the form on this page.
AWARDS
Awards will be announced by email within one month after each deadline. The grant is to be used for transportation and project-related expenses and is up to $1,000.
CONDITIONS
Funds must be used for participation in a missionary medical or dental preceptorship, clerkship, or similar experience of one week or more in duration, including at least 5 days of clinical and/ or teaching experience. The trip must be arranged by the grant recipient for completion within twelve months from the date of award.
Recipients are required to submit a typewritten report to CMDA within thirty days after completion of the overseas experience, including photographs if possible. The report should contain a summary of activities and an assessment of the value of the experience for the grant recipient. Both the report and photos will be kept on file here unless specified otherwise. The recipient is also asked to write a letter of appreciation to the donor. This should be included with the report so that it can be forwarded to the donor.
Due to limited funding, this program is not intended to duplicate other award programs where funding has been given. Where partial funding has been provided from other sources, the CMDA award would be limited to the amount necessary to meet (but not exceed) full travel and project-related expenses. If full funding has been provided by other organizations, churches, mission board or foundation awards, applicants are requested to notify the Christian Medical & Dental Associations
For questions, please contact Administrative Assistant-Volunteer for Center for Advancing Healthcare Missions.
Contact the Administrative Assistant/Volunteer for the Center for Advancing Healthcare Missions:
Online Application:
Before an application will be considered, a letter of recommendation from the applicant's pastor must be submitted. The letter should highlight the applicant's spiritual maturity and involvement in ministry. The reference is an attempt to do a 360-degree look at you from those who have good knowledge of your calling, spiritual commitment, passion for evangelism and your ability to work in an overseas missionary context. If your pastor is not able to provide this information, please select someone who could. The letter of reference should be sent to the Administrative Assistant/Volunteer for the Center for Advancing Healthcare Missions by uploading it via the link on this page.