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The first recipients of dozens of new full-ride health science scholarships will attend classes at Old Dominion University this fall, but they haven’t been notified yet. They haven’t even been selected. That’s because the primary support for these scholarships, two gifts totaling $40 million, was just announced Friday afternoon at a celebration of the long-awaited merger of Eastern Virginia Medical School and Old Dominion University, which will officially take place on July 1.

Leaders unveiled the name of the program: Macon and Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University. It will be the largest health sciences center in Virginia, with more than 50 degrees offered, several of which are not available anywhere else in the commonwealth, said Cathy Lewis, community engagement liaison for ODU. Sentara Health, a longtime EVMS supporter and key partner in the merger process, is committing $350 million to the combined health sciences program over 10 years, Lewis said.



After the event, EVMS President Alfred Abuhamad and ODU President Brian Hemphill spoke about the long road to integration, support from their boards and their own work together. “From day one, we shared the vision of doing this collaboratively,” Abuhamad said. Hemphill called it a “perfect storm.

” “We are obviously two very complex organizations,” he said. “It took leaving the ego out of the room and just coming together.” Speaking at the ceremony, Sentara Health President and CEO.

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