Crystal J. Trujillo’s academic achievements in biochemistry at St. Mary’s University and career aspirations to help the medically under-served have earned her the four-year Galan Scholarship as an outstanding student entering the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Trujillo, who graduated from St. Mary’s in May with a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry, cum laude, will begin medical school on June 27. As a Galan scholar, Trujillo will receive $1,500 per year for all four years of medical school. She plans to specialize in pediatrics and rural medicine, based, in part, on her volunteer work with disabled children.
“I am very surprised to receive the award,” said Trujillo, 23. “It has been a lot of hard work but it has paid off,” she said. Her GPA at St. Mary’s was 3.77 and she graduated eighth in a class of 127 students from Devine High School in South Texas in 1999. Her mother is a seamstress who earned her GED while her father, who was born in Mexico, was a farmhand when he died during Crystal’s junior year of high school. She has a 16-year-old brother.
Trujillo was recognized during a reception on Thursday, June 3, at the Bexar County Medical Society.
“We are grateful that the Galan Family, through the Bexar County Medical Foundation, is assisting this outstanding young woman as she enters our medical school,” said Leonard E. Lawrence, M.D., associate dean for student affairs in the Health Science Center School of Medicine. “We look forward to working with her as she prepares to become a physician. She represents a South Texas native who is likely to serve in the region after her graduate medical education and residency are completed.”
