Dr. Thomas J. and Barbara L. Guttuso Scholarship and Award Fund Endowment

Opthalmology students in VA Research Building.

Established by a former Dean of Admissions, this fund provides an annual award and scholarships for medical school students.

“Our motives for giving are simple," said Thomas J. Guttuso Sr., MD ‘60. "In my former role as Dean of Admissions for the medical school, I witnessed firsthand the need for scholarship funds to help students financially. We also wanted to give back in gratitude for the education I received.”

The Dr. Thomas J. and Barbara L. Guttuso Scholarship and Award Fund Endowment provides scholarships to incoming freshmen medical students with academic promise and financial need, and also gives an award to a senior medical student in the field of ophthalmology.

One previous scholarship recipient is Kirk Scirto, MD ’06, who earned his MD at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, then joined the team at Buffalo’s Jericho Road Community Health Center to care for patients with limited access to healthcare, particularly refugees, immigrants and those from low-income families. It’s demanding work, he conceded, but incredibly rewarding. “Our patients are very grateful for the care they receive.”

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News from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

  • Zhao Studying Immune Cell Therapy for Tumors
    7/12/23

    The work could improve a promising type of immunotherapy treatment — chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy.

  • UB’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center Expands Outreach
    5/31/23

    Funding from the state Department of Health is enabling the center to expand care to families experiencing dementia in all 8 WNY counties.

  • No Brain, No Gain When Relieving Chronic Pain
    3/31/23

    Studies have shown that a specific non-drug treatment of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) developed by researchers at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences can be effective for a range of pain problems and lead to significant improvements in functioning, quality of life and symptoms resistant to medical treatments.

  • Honors Convocation Fetes Awardees, Honors Daniels
    5/3/23

    Nicholas J. Silvestri, MD, clinical associate professor of neurology and associate dean for student and academic affairs, paid tribute to the late Jonathan D. Daniels, MD, during the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Science’s annual Honors Convocation, which took place April 28 at UB’s Center for the Arts.

  • UB, MSU Students Reflect on Mass Shootings
    5/22/23

    Almost a year to the day after the May 14 mass shooting in Buffalo, a group of 18 medical students gathered for lunch and conversation in the annex of the Hopewell Baptist Church on Fillmore Avenue. The students from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University were all familiar with the universal struggles that go along with attending medical school. But that wasn’t the only thing they had in common. 

  • Match Day 2023
    3/17/23

    The medical students in the University at Buffalo’s Class of 2023 gathered at the Powerhouse in South Buffalo for Match Day, a rite of passage for the prospective physicians, as they learned where they will train in residency.

  • Taste of Culture Celebrates Fabric of Diversity, Inclusion
    12/12/23

    Delicious aromas, colorful displays and upbeat sounds filled the atrium of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Dec. 1 as the school’s chapter of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) presented the 2023 edition of its Taste of Culture event.