Lee Health’s Shipley Cardiothoracic Center to Provide Scholarships to FGCU Bioengineering Students

(Fort Myers, Fla. – May 4, 2021) --- With a mission of promoting innovation, education and research within the Southwest Florida community, Lee Health’s Shipley Cardiothoracic Center is announcing a donation of $150,000 to Florida Gulf Coast University to support bioengineering students.

The $150,000 will be dispersed through the Lee Health Foundation over a period of three years, at $50,000 a year through student scholarships.

这些资金将用于支持FGCU生物ing students in their junior and senior years. In addition to student scholarships, the donation will also be used to support the students’ professional development through conferences, travel, internships and other opportunities. The goal is to engage the students in the research, clinical delivery and community engagement that the Shipley Cardiothoracic Center participates in throughout the year.

“Through this fund, we are training the leaders of tomorrow. FGCU is such an important community partner, and we are proud to be able to provide this donation, which will create the Shipley Center Scholars Program Fund,” said Dr. Paul DiGiorgi, cardiothoracic surgeon at Shipley Cardiothoracic Center. “We hope to gain insight from the students as they conduct research, gather data, observe cases, etc., while also hoping to inspire the students to continue in biomedical engineering careers and learn from the surgeons here.”

The Shipley Cardiothoracic Center is Lee Health’s cardiothoracic surgery program. It’s the largest program in the region performing over 1,600 surgical cases annually. The Shipley Cardiothoracic Center is located within HealthPark Medical Center, which is recognized as an IBM Watson Top 50 Cardiovascular Hospital. HealthPark is the only hospital in Florida to receive this recognition for four consecutive years.

In addition to providing high-quality care, Shipley Cardiothoracic Center is dedicated to serving the community through partnerships with numerous local groups and organizations to bring awareness and education to the Southwest Florida region. The Shipley Cardiothoracic Center has had a long-standing partnership with FGCU that includes various educational projects and collaborative efforts with the university’s software engineering and bioengineering students, including an internship program called the Shipley Center Scholars.

"The Shipley Center Scholars program is an amazing opportunity for our students to gain relevant clinical exposure to the needs and problems associated with healthcare today. Working directly with the physicians, nurses and staff of Lee Health, these students will be able to translate their experiences in the hospital to project and research opportunities within our bioengineering program,” said Dr. Chris Geiger, associate professor and chair of the Department of Bioengineering at FGCU. “In addition to funding for tuition, the program will provide students with experiential learning opportunities through a summer internship, as well as additional support to disseminate their findings at regional and national conferences. We are extremely grateful to the Shipley Center and look forward to continuing to enhance the relationship we’ve built with them over the last several years."

To learn more about the Shipley Cardiothoracic Center and how you can support this program and others, visitwww.leehealthfoundation.org.