\u201cIt\u2019s important to give back, to throw the rope back over the wall,\u201d Lopez says. \u201cBecause without that rope, I wouldn\u2019t have gotten over that wall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lopez\u2019s gift of $25,000 established the Sharon and Peter Lopez Endowed Scholarship, a merit- and need-based scholarship with priority consideration given to students from underrepresented populations.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr. Lopez has been very supportive,\u201d Hurley says. \u201cThis was his idea. He contacted the Foundation wanting to support HCOP.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDr. Hurley\u2019s programs are important because they allow the university to obtain its mission with diversity, and with diversity is strength,\u201d Lopez says.<\/p>\n
Following Lopez\u2019s remarks at the HPPI commencement, 40 students accepted certificates of completion:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Five from the College Enrichment Program<\/a><\/li>\n
- 29 from the Medical\/Dental Preparatory<\/a> Track One Program<\/li>\n
- Six from the Clinical Summer Research Fellowship Program<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
More information about the Health Career Opportunity Programs is available at http:\/\/hcop.uchc.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n
![\"Dr.](\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\")
<\/a>Dr. Peter Lopez, who graduated from the UConn School of Medicine in 1991, gives the keynote address at the Health Career Opportunities Programs closing ceremonies on July 22, 2011. Lopez established the Sharon and Peter Lopez Endowed Scholarship to help students from underrepresented populations. (Janine Gelineau\/UConn Health Center Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n <\/a>Andrew Taliaferro, a student at Washington University in St. Louis, discusses his research on the mental health of minorities in Hartford. Taliaferro studied this summer at the Institute for Community Research in Hartford as part of the Clinical Summer Research Fellowship Program, one of the UConn Health Center’s Health Career Opportunities Programs. Granville Wrensford (center) is the associate director of HCOP. (Chris DeFrancesco\/UConn Health Center Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \n<\/a>UConn undergrad Gian Grant presents her poster “The Need for More School Based Health Centers in Hartford” on the last day of the 2011 Clinical Summer Research Fellowship Program at the UConn Health Center. Grant did her research with the Hartford Action Plan. (Chris DeFrancesco\/UConn Health Center Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n <\/a>UConn undergrad Serena Mistry spent her Clinical Summer Research Fellowship at the Hartford Dispensary studying the drug abuse habits in two Hartford neighborhoods. (Chris DeFrancesco\/UConn Health Center Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A graduate from the UConn School of Medicine class of 1991 has established an endowed scholarship for graduate students. Dr. Peter Lopez, now an orthopaedic surgeon in Tampa, was back on campus to deliver the keynote address at the July 22 closing ceremony for three Aetna Health Professions Partnership Initiative programs. The HPPI programs come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[57,2010],"class_list":["post-42614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uconn-health","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 05:37:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42614"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84657,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42614\/revisions\/84657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42614"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=42614"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=42614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- 29 from the Medical\/Dental Preparatory<\/a> Track One Program<\/li>\n
![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/peter_lopez-300x201.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/andrew_taliaferro-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"UConn](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/gian_grant-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"UConn](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/serena_mistry-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a>