San Joaquin Medical Society

In the 1950’s and 60’s polio was still a dreaded disease killing and crippling adults and children alike. Pictures of people in the iron lungs were common place and the Salk vaccine was often in short supply. A group of dedicated SJMS member physicians devoted themselves to the cause of wiping out polio in San Joaquin County by administering the vaccine free of charge in their offices. Patients began offering token donations to these doctors for providing this service and after a short time over $28,000 was raised with this effort. After much consideration, the doctors chose to establish a Scholarship Loan Fund with these funds which would provide interest free loans to young medical students (and later nursing students as well) who needed it.

Those pioneering doctors were Bruce Nickols, MD, Clarence Luckey, MD, William Brock, MD and Dr. Robert Burns who was the Dean of the UOP School of Pharmacy. A few years later Dr. Fuad Nahas and Dr. Eugene Northcott became very active in the expansion of the loan fund as well and shepherded it into becoming a state approved non-profit corporation with an active board designed to watch over it.