Health Alliance for the Uninsured presents the Dr. R. Murali Krishna Community Service Award recipients to University of Oklahoma medical students.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Health Alliance for the Uninsured (HAU) awards graduating the University of Oklahoma medical students Brandon Moritz and Ishak Hossain for demonstrating their commitment to addressing healthcare access and disparities by balancing 100 or more volunteer hours while maintaining busy clinical and academic schedules.
Each student will receive a $1,000 scholarship for winning HAU’s Dr. R. Murali Krishna Community Service Award.
Moritz will be an internal medicine and pediatrics resident at Duke University’s combined program this fall. He plans to teach new doctors as a medical school/residency faculty member and be a leader within a health system in the future. Hossain will attend Saint Louis University, where he will be a family medicine resident.
Both plan to return to Oklahoma upon completing their residencies.
Moritz, a Memphis native and the University of Arkansas graduate has worked with rural and urban low-income communities in Tennessee, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Haiti. Hossain, a Tulsa native, graduated from Washington University in St. Louis.
“Both are outstanding human beings,” said Dr. R. Murali Krishna, namesake of the Dr. R. Murali Krishna Community Service Award. “Brandon is a very outgoing, friendly, warm, empathetic person who is connected to the community in a major way. “Ishak is very wise and wants to serve the community. He wants to take care of the whole person.”
The award recognizes two senior health professions students who have demonstrated a commitment to serving the underserved. Krishna founded the Health Alliance for the Uninsured in 2005 while serving as Oklahoma County Medical Society president and has long sought to improve healthcare access.
“It’s truly amazing. It takes a very special spirit,” Krishna said, describing the nights, weekends, and extra hours the nominees and winners put in above and beyond their very demanding studies because of a passion to help others. “It is very special for me to see that such a noble deed is being taken up by so many people at a young stage of their careers. It’s almost like a dream come true.”
Winners and nominees carry their passion for helping the poor and underserved into their healthcare careers, impacting tens of thousands of people, he said.
“It’s like lighting up a fire in a very dark place and saying there is hope there,” he said.
