Donor News: Merkows' Gift Helps Student Puruse Interest in Medicine

A publishing job, an observant supervisor and a curious mind
propelled Benjamin Sudolcan toward medical school.

 

Seven years ago, he was doing page layout and design for a Madison publisher, when the company began working on medical books for the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

 

"Whenever I was working on those books, I was much less efficient and much slower," he says.

 

Finally, his boss asked a crucial question: "Are you trying to learn to be a doctor by reading those textbooks?"

 

Given Sudolcan's interest in medicine, that supervisor pushed him to begin night classes at UW-Madison, then to cut back to half time to study, and, finally, to leave the job to finish his biology degree.

 

This fall, the 28-year-old Sudolcan joined the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Class of 2015. Thanks to a Great People Scholarship sponsored by alumnus William Merkow, MD '43, and his wife, Rosalind (known to most people as Riva), Sudolcan says he can pursue a career in family medicine.

 

Some third- and fourth-year students choose their specialties to pay their debt, Sudolcan says.

 

"(The scholarship) allows me to focus on what I want to do, rather than how much I'll make when I leave," he says. "It's a small grace."

 

Besides, he says, knowing that someone else cares about his education brings another level of responsibility to do well.

 

"It feels like Dr. Merkow and his wife care," he says.

 

The Merkows say they are glad to be able to help.

 

"Philanthropy is in our blood," they say, adding that the scholarship is a way to "pay back" for the excellent education William received at the School of Medicine and Public Health. He began making annual gifts to the school through the Wisconsin Medical Alumni Association (WMAA) when he started practicing in 1950, and he's a long-time member of the Middleton Society that recognizes significant givers.

 

A grade school science teacher gave him advice he hasn't forgotten, says William.

 

"He said, 'Whatever you do, try to make this world a better place for the next guy.'"

 

Riva Merkow remembers how grateful her Jewish family was when life improved after the Great Depression.

 

"We felt how lucky we were to be here," she says. "It got better. Also, we were safe from what was going on in Europe."

 

A Perfect Match

 

The Wisconsin Medical Alumni Association has made the Great People Scholarships Program a priority.

 

"The WMAA is committed to reducing student debt by providing fairly significant scholarship dollars, and the match is a real sell for alumni," Executive Director Karen Peterson says.

 

The UW Foundation and the Wisconsin Medical Alumni Association match 50 cents for every $1 given to Great People Scholarships designated for medical students. As a result, all gifts to this fund receive a $1 for $1 match.

 

In addition to setting up named funds with a minimum of $25,000, alumni can contribute to the Wisconsin Medical Alumni Association Great People Scholarship. This fund was established with $100,000 from the WMAA and a $50,000 match from the UW Foundation.

 

The average medical student's debt at graduation is $150,000, Peterson notes. The students are heading to residency, often starting a family and trying to make loan payments.

 

"It's like having another mortgage," Peterson says.

 

William Merkow was born in Milwaukee; Riva Merkow, in Madison. They met because William's father, who owned a general store, wanted his son to have someplace to share the Passover meal while he was a medical student, so he talked to a Madison wholesale distributor who knew Riva's father. The friend wrote a letter of introduction.

 

"I thought he was nice," Riva remembers. "But I was dating a couple of other people."

 

The couple married almost 70 years ago, June 14, 1942. William, a surgeon, practiced medicine until he turned 90 a year ago, spending 40 years at Waukesha Memorial Hospital, where he helped establish the first surgery department, and 20 years with QuadMed.

 

"I was reluctant to retire," he says. "People ask me what my hobbies are: My hobby is working."

 

The couple's three sons and two of their daughters-in-law also became physicians. Son Steven, MD '80, an orthopedic surgeon at Waukesha Memorial Hospital, daughter-in-law Ann Bartos Merkow, MD '79, an internist at QuadMed in West Allis, and brother Leonard Merkow, MD '62, earned UW-Madison medical degrees. Middle son, Robert, an orthopedic surgeon who died in a 1989 plane crash on his way to care for patients in Shell Lake, Wisconsin, earned his undergraduate degree at UW-Madison.

 

The Merkows credit their son Steve for letting them know about the Great People Scholarship Program and the matching dollars available from the Foundation.

 

"I was all in favor of it," William says. "It's a great value. I would recommend my colleagues do the same."

 

Focused on a Dream

 

For Sudolcan, the Great People Scholarship eases his worry about medical school costs.

 

"Being self-reliant throughout my undergraduate years, I took a lot more debt than I am comfortable with," he says.

 

Born in San Antonio, Texas, to Southern Baptist ministers, Sudolcan left home at 17 to go to college. A year later, he joined the U.S. Air Force to stabilize his finances. The day he started tech school, September 11, 2001, the world changed. After a tour in Qatar and an honorable discharge, Sudolcan worked in New York, transferred to Schaumberg, Illinois, as a visual merchandiser, discovered Madison "and thought it was the most amazing city ever."

 

Sudolcan took seven years to earn his undergraduate degree and said the transition to constantly studying for medical school has been difficult.

 

"But the payoff is so immense and great, it's easy to stay focused. My dream now is building a relationship with patients and focusing on preventive care," he says.

 

He hopes he can translate his hard work and education into a better quality of life for his future patients.

Date Published: 11/16/2011