Future Doctors Receive Top Health Professions Awards

Three aspiring physicians have been named recipients of Cal State Fullerton’s top awards for students preparing for careers in the health professions.

Graduating biological science major Christine Schnaible and Jennifer Kawase, a 1994 CSUF business administration graduate who returned to campus to take science courses in preparation for medical school, are winners of the Miles D. McCarthy Health Professions Award.
Named for a founding CSUF professor, the McCarthy Award recognizes outstanding health professions students who demonstrate high academic achievement, integrity and a commitment to serve humanity. Both Schnaible and Kawase are being accorded this honor for 2002.

They will be recognized during the university’s annual Honors Convocation Friday, May 31, along with Mohammad Hanizavareh, who will receive the Kenneth L. Goodhue-McWilliams Award for outstanding community service in the health professions.

Schnaible, a resident of Brea who will graduate magna cum laude, is a certified emergency medical technician who has volunteered at both San Clemente and St. Jude hospitals. She also has volunteered with the YMCA and served as a counselor and tutor for educationally disadvantaged students.

On campus, she is vice president of the Student Health Professions Association, has performed molecular biology research, been on the Dean’s List and is a member of various honor societies. She will attend Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in the fall. She characterized her educational experiences at Cal State Fullerton as “incredible” and praised her professors for their encouragement in helping her to pursue her dream of becoming a physician.

Kawase has taken an indirect route to medical school. The Anaheim resident graduated with honors in 1994, earning a degree in business administration with a double concentration in accounting and marketing. A few years later, she decided to return to campus and her first love - science. As a postbaccalaureate student, she has maintained a 4.0 grade point average in all her science classes.

She is also an emergency medical technician, has a pharmacy technician license and has volunteered at Western Medical Center, where she also serves as a training coordinator for collegiate- level volunteers.

Kawase has been a teaching assistant for a general biology course and performed research at the Orange County Vector Control and in the molecular biology lab at the university. She has assisted at the Special Olympics and at Ronald McDonald House. She is a member of several honors societies and will attend Loma Linda University School of Medicine.

Hanizavareh, a Placentia resident, who will graduate cum laude with a bachelor of science degree in biological science, has been very active on campus, serving as president of the Student Health Professions Association. Under his leadership, this group has held several successful blood drives and made numerous visits to food banks, homeless shelters and counseling centers for abused women and their children.

He has volunteered at Placentia Linda Hospital, Western Medical Center and Hospice Center of California. Hanizavareh has made the Dean’s List, is a member of several honor societies and has performed research in the university’s cell biological laboratory.

Graduation will be a family celebration for Hanizavareh this weekend. He will receive a bachelor of science degree in biological science, while his mother, Azar Bolooki, will receive a master’s degree in psychology (clinical). Looking on will be sister Sheri, who is completing her freshman year at the university, and father Seyedabbas Hanizavareh, CSUF associate professor of information systems and decision sciences.

Photos: High-resolution images of the honorees can be downloaded from the university’s Web site at www.fullerton.edu/paweb/news.html.

Media Contact: Dave Reid, Public Affairs, at (714) 278-4855 or dreid@fullerlton.edu