With the 2025 Gunther and Lee Wiegel Medical School Scholarship, 10 Elks scholars will receive $20,000 each as they strive to become doctors who their communities can lean on.
Brina Ratangee, a 2021 Most Valuable Student scholar sponsored by Frederick, Md., Lodge No. 684, has already made meaningful differences in the lives of her neighbors. After providing free blood pressure screenings and health education workshops in Nashville, Ratangee, a 2024 Vanderbilt University graduate, was inspired to start the first-ever narrative-based medicine journal for homeless health.
“While editing these writings and crafting my own, I became captivated by the stories and shared insights gained,” says Ratangee. “[The journal] became a calling, not a mere to-do.”
For Ratangee, starting the journal was just the beginning. She wanted to create a space for students, clinicians, and policymakers to reflect on the stories that were being told in the journal, then use those voices to guide solutions. This inspiration led her to organize the inaugural Vanderbilt Homeless Health Conference, which featured keynote speakers and panels from organizations that provide resources and services to Nashville’s unhoused population.
“Together, we deconstructed misconceptions of homelessness and empowered attendees—many of whom were aspiring physicians—to effect change,” says Ratangee.
Change usually begins with small steps, and as the recipient of two micro grants exclusive to Elks scholars, Ratangee knows just how powerful small steps can be. In 2023, she worked with peers to cultivate a relationship with Tennessee’s Heimerdinger Foundation, an organization that grows, prepares, and delivers organic meals to community members facing cancer. Using a $500 grant from the Elks National Foundation, Ratangee built garden beds to help the Heimerdinger Foundation meet the needs of the community.
The following year, Ratangee received another small grant from the ENF, this time to address the health-related social needs of individuals experiencing homelessness across Nashville. Both projects were pivotal to Ratangee’s understanding of what it means to serve others. “Being part of the Elks scholar community has shown me the collective power that can be born out of and poured back into communities,” says Ratangee. “I’ve strived to forge connections with my community, identify our shared needs, and work where I best fit within these networks.” Though she will find a new community this fall as she studies emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Ratangee hopes to continue making meaningful differences in the lives of those around her.
“As a physician,” says Ratangee, “I’ll be able to leverage my position to advocate for those whose names I don’t yet know but who equally deserve quality care—so all future patients feel seen, heard and cared for.”
Brian Do, a 2018 Most Valuable Student scholar sponsored by San Diego, Calif., Lodge No. 168, and 2025 Weigel recipient, has also used small grants exclusive to Elks scholars to help the unhoused population in his community. In August of 2020, Do noticed that the risk of infection and limited access to hygiene essentials experienced by unhoused individuals had been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Determined to make a difference, Do recruited fellow Elks scholars and other students to purchase ingredients and prepare sandwiches for locals. A lack of PPE supplies also inspired Do to use his mom’s sewing machine to make face masks and homemade hand sanitizer kits.
“Each month as we distributed meals and supplies, I brimmed with pride,” says Do, a 2022 University of California, San Diego graduate. “My fellow Elks scholars, students, and I spread kindness and built a genuine movement in our community that provides essential goods to those in need.”
Do’s work didn’t stop there, though. He partnered with Third Avenue Charitable Organization, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the dignity, health and well-being of community members experiencing homelessness and poverty. With their help, along with the support of Elks scholars and other volunteers, Do was able to turn his small initiative into a full-scale project called Hope Packages. Over the past five years, Hope Packages has provided monthly warm meals, hygiene essentials, and biannual get-togethers for hundreds of people in downtown San Diego.
“Children, families, and adults now have a safe, permanent space to connect with and serve the unhoused and to fight against the prejudice they face,” says Do. “Seeing the growth of our project fills me with pride, knowing that we are making a tangible difference within the community.”
Not only has Do served his hometown, Do also spent a year serving in Vietnam as a United States Fulbright Research Scholar. Focused on understanding the barriers to hepatitis care access in the rural parts of the country, Do conducted interviews with over 100 patients and physicians. This research led him to help create a protocol and handbook that has been used to train over 300 primary healthcare workers through specialized courses, and screen and counsel over 40,000 individuals for hepatitis.
“The year I spent in Vietnam helped me forge a deep connection with their communities and gain a profound understanding of the issues that plague its citizens,” says Do. “This cultural connection, rooted in my Vietnamese heritage and American identity, instills in me a sense of responsibility to improve health equity for underserved populations in less-resourced settings, both locally and globally.”
Do will attend the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School to study gastroenterology and hepatology, where he seeks to become a medical professional who patients can lean on.
“As a future physician and proud Elks scholar, I will continue to embody the Elks’ values by taking initiative to serve others and cultivating deeper, meaningful community relationships and partnerships,” says Do. “I hope to care for our patients in greatest need, both locally and worldwide, ensuring that all individuals receive the dignity, respect, and access to health care they deserve.”
These future medical professionals will be far more than just people with stethoscopes. They will be pillars of their communities, sources of comfort and knowledge, and will continue to make a difference in the lives of their neighbors. They will change the world; they are Weigel scholars.
After the late Lee Weigel lost her husband, Gunther, to a staph infection in November 2009, she wanted to improve the quality of healthcare in our country. Lee partnered with the Elks National Foundation to endow the Gunther and Lee Weigel Medical School Scholarship, which helps Elks scholars pursue careers in medicine. For more information, visit secure.elks.org/Weigel/MSS.