The L.D. Britt, MD Scholarship Fund Dinner will be held on Thursday, Oct. 6, at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott Hotel. This event is held annually to benefit the L.D. Britt, MD Scholarship, which supports promising minority medical students within the region. Each year the scholarship grants a four-year award to deserving minority students, currently expected to value $10,000 per year.

Britt, a Suffolk native, is a surgeon and professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School. He was the first black person in the United States to receive an endowed chair in surgery at a major American medical school and is a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School, University of Virginia, Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health.

The scholarship is sustained through money raised from supporters throughout the Hampton Roads community. Since its inception, the L.D. Britt, MD Scholarship has awarded more than $1 million in scholarship funds. These recipients have attended distinguished medical institutions nationwide.

With health care disparities widening, the coming years will bring a growing need for minority doctors. Current estimates state that by 2050, racial and ethnic minorities will comprise half of the U.S. population, but they make up only 6 percent of practicing physicians today. Studies show greater diversity in medical education results in more physicians practicing in underserved communities, more culturally competent care and better patient-doctor communication.

Shannon Walker, the 2011 Britt Scholar and the keynote speaker at the scholarship dinner last year, is currently continuing her training as a resident in the Internal Medicine program at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Dr. Theresa Cruthird-Rudd was the L.D. Britt, MD Scholar in 2006. She attended the University of Virginia School of Medicine. “The L.D. Britt, MD Scholarship made it possible for me to overcome the financial barriers that limit so many minorities from realizing their dreams of serving their communities as physicians,” Dr. Cruthird-Rudd said. “The scholarship helped make my dream a reality.”

The dinner will take place at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott Hotel. Tickets are available through www.ldbrittmdscholarshipfund.org or by contacting Lovie Brown at 446-8966 or brownlm@evms.edu. Reservations start at $75 per person, with various donation tiers available. Tickets will be mailed to those who order by Sept. 25. Tickets purchased after this date can be picked up in the Department of Surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School.