An avenue of scholarship support

By Hayley Roulston

Virginia Commonwealth University's Monument Avenue Scholarship launched in 2009 from a friendship that began decades ago on the fourth floor of the Warner Hall dormitory, in the classrooms of the MCV Campus and along the streets of Richmond. For one group of School of Medicine alumni, the scholarship fund represents far more than financial support. It speaks to the lasting impact of a bond forged during some of the most formative years of their lives.

To this day, Anton M. Allen Jr., M.D., William M. "Bill" Goldstein, M.D., and Richard M. "Rick" Rubenstein, M.D., from the Class of 1981, and John F. Sacco, M.D., from the Class of 1982, travel together regularly. The sometimes exotic destinations, however, are simply a backdrop to quality time spent with classmates.

In 2026, they traveled back to Richmond for April's MCV Campus Alumni Reunion, where this year's scholarship recipient, the Class of 2028's Akhila Kunuthuru, presented an original poem as part of the Art in Anatomy reflection.

"This scholarship has become a signal of hope for me," Kunuthuru said. "While it relieves a significant financial burden, it means so much more than that. It represents a community committed to shaping us into better physicians, and it inspires me to do my best every day."

Having recently celebrated the 45th anniversary of their graduation, the alumni have seen the cost of medical education grow increasingly more expensive. In-state tuition, just $3,827 in 1980, has risen to $41,660 for the 2025-26 academic year.

Sacco, now a radiation-oncologist in Cincinnati, came to understand the significant financial barriers that medical students face when he struck up a conversation with a medical student at another institution while on an airport shuttle years ago. The student was interviewing for surgical residencies and admitted that although her true passion was primary care, she felt driven toward surgery in order to pay off her $260,000 in student loans.

Encounters like this continue to fuel the group's desire to ease students' financial pressures.

"I hope this scholarship takes some of the burden off," said Goldstein, who practices as an anesthesiologist in Havertown, Pennsylvania. "I want students to make decisions based on where their hearts lead them, not where their financial obligations push them."

After their time in Warner Hall, their friendship took them to Monument Avenue where they called the picturesque Richmond boulevard home. They walked to each other's apartments, shared meals in the Fan at Joe's Inn, biked to class and built connections that outlasted exams, residencies and the inevitable professional scattering that followed.

Their camaraderie is at the core of what inspired the scholarship. Rubenstein, a dermatologist in Boynton Beach, Florida, led the effort to consolidate the group's giving to create something lasting. The endowed scholarship exists in perpetuity, offering annual tuition assistance and carrying the name the donors chose.

Naming it after Monument Avenue came naturally. They say it symbolizes not only where they lived, but how they lived: soulfully and together. Today the scholarship strengthens their bond and creates connections with a new generation training on the MCV Campus.

This story was originally published on the School of Medicine website.