Tracey DaFonte

The Dr. Edward Leitão Memorial Scholarship Fund will award two $1,500 scholarships to Portuguese-American medical students Tracey DaFonte and Bryan Rego, according to organizers. The scholarships will be presented at an Awards Luncheon on Sunday, January 29th, at 1 PM at the Faialense Club, 1121 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA.

Bryan Rego

The community is invited to attend the Dr. Leitão Scholarship Awards Luncheon, which will also serve as a fundraiser for the Scholarship Fund. The price per person is $50 (free for children under 12). For tickets, please contact Lucinda Morais at MAPS, 617-864-7600.

A daughter of immigrants from northern Portugal, DaFonte is a 4th-year medical student at the University of Vermont.

“My desire is to help Portuguese-speaking patients express their medical needs and worries and to offer them patient care that is respectful of their culture and values,” she told the Dr. Edward Leitão Memorial Scholarship Fund Committee. Tracey grew up in Massachusetts and graduated from Tufts University. She has worked in research at Tufts Medical School and volunteered at their free clinics in Malden, providing Portuguese translation services.

Rego, of Azorean background, is a 1st-year medical student at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island. He works as a Research Intern at the Harvard School of Public Health and has developed research at other institutions in Providence.

“With my grandfather, my parents and the Portuguese community in mind, I can think of no better field than medicine and public health to act out the values that I have been blessed with,” Rego told the committee. “The sense of community instilled in me by my heritage is one that I believe will empower me to impart real change in immigrant communities.”

The Dr. Edward Leitão Memorial Scholarship Fund, managed by MAPS, was created in 2015 in the name of the much-loved physician, who passed away earlier that year. It aims to fill the urgent need for more Portuguese-speaking medical professionals in the community. To donate to the Scholarship Fund, please visit https://maps-inc.org/participate/donate/the-dr-edward-leitao-scholarship-fund/.

MAPS has provided health and social services for Portuguese speakers and others in Massachusetts since 1970. The agency has offices in Cambridge, Somerville, Brighton, Dorchester, Lowell and Framingham. For more information, please call (617) 864-7600 or visit www.maps-inc.org.