Student named 2009 Jack Kent Cooke Scholar

For Joel Charles of Green Bay, Wis., choosing a career path is more than calculating income or raking in benefits. Instead, he’s looking to his future career in terms of his impact on society and the possibility to increase the quality of life for the people he works with.

The UW–Madison graduate, who will be attending the UW–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health in the fall, has recently been named as a 2009 Jack Kent Cooke Scholar, a prestigious national award.

“I really want to find a way to sustainably better the lives of others and make sure I’m actually helping them,” Charles says.

“I want to use both my role as a physician and my background interests in social justice history and environmental conservation to work with organizations and communities to seek long-term sustainable solutions to health disparities, poverty, and environmental degradation,” he adds. “I think the root causes of these problems are extremely linked.”

Charles was one of 30 individuals, out of 678 applicants, to receive the graduate scholarship worth up to $50,000 a year for up to six years of study. He will use the scholarship to pursue a medical degree and master of public health degree at UW–Madison this fall.

Charles can see himself working in the medical field, while connecting the health problems of patients to possible economic and/or environmental issues where they live that could be negatively impacting their lives.

For the past year, Charles has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in Clarksdale, Miss. Instead of going straight into medical school, he took a year off to reflect and focus on what he is going to do in the future, as well as spend time with a nonprofit organization.

UW-Madison history professor Jeremi Suri, who had Charles as a student, says that he’s an ideal recipient of the award.

“He has such a commitment to giving back to society, to being part of work that will make other peoples lives better,” he says.

For Charles, the people he has connected with throughout his life, including his family, friends and the people he has helped or worked with through his volunteer programs, are a source of motivation.

“The people that I’ve met have taught me to strive for things that I thought were bigger than myself,” Charles says. “The friends I’ve met at UW have really pushed me to do great things also.”