The Guttmacher Institute is excited to announce Denise Nguyen and Madeline Stump as the recipients of the 2021 Cory L. Richards Memorial Scholarship. This year’s recipients were chosen from a pool of more than 200 outstanding applicants.
Ms. Nguyen will use the scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in public health from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Ms. Stump will use the scholarship to complete a master’s degree in public health from the Boston University School of Public Health.
"The Guttmacher Institute is thrilled to have these two stellar winners from an impressive pool of highly-qualified applicants," said Dr. Herminia Palacio, President and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute. "We are inspired to know there are such strong leaders emerging in the field of sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice, and that the Cory L. Richards Scholarship can play a role in helping their careers along. Their work with communities that are underserved in our health care system shows tremendous promise, and we are excited to see the great work that lies ahead in their careers."
Denise Nguyen
Through her studies and other work, Ms. Nguyen hopes to "implement health policies to ensure discriminatory barriers in health care are eliminated," according to her application essay and "empower communities and individuals in a global setting through the power of words being implemented into policy." She is particularly interested in policy and research that focuses on immigrant women’s sexual and reproductive health. Ms. Nguyen has demonstrated a commitment to elevating the experiences of Asian Americans and immigrant communities within the realm of public health. As an undergraduate, she assisted in research on poor reproductive health outcomes for Vietnamese nail salon workers due to chronic chemical exposure. Ms. Nguyen also served as an intern with Essential Access Health, where she analyzed legislation related to sexual and reproductive health in the California State Senate and Assembly.
Madeline Stump
Ms. Stump is committed to reproductive justice and centering the needs and experiences of trans women within the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights. This summer, Ms. Stump served as a public policy fellow at the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, where she worked with the Transgender Emergency Fund out of the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth. As a fellow, she worked on the planning for a new housing project in Boston dedicated to transgender homeless and housing-insecure individuals. Ms. Stump has pushed to include access to safer sex and sexual health supplies for future residents of the building. She has also advocated for the inclusion of the needs of trans and nonbinary people within the maternal and child health department at Boston University. Ms. Stump wrote in her application that she passionately believes "every person should have the means available to them to build the family they desire or not," and she aims to "continue pushing for reproductive health and rights policy changes which are inclusive of all people’s needs."
About the Scholarship
Named in honor of a leading figure in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights whose remarkable career at the Guttmacher Institute spanned nearly four decades, the Cory L. Richards Memorial Scholarship reflects what was for Cory a deep commitment: mentoring and nurturing the professional growth of emerging leaders. The scholarship provides financial support to students seeking graduate degrees in public health or public policy with the intention of devoting their careers to advancing policy related to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Each year, up to two individuals are designated as the Cory L. Richards Scholars and are each awarded a one-time scholarship of $15,000 to support full-time graduate study at an accredited institution in the United States. In keeping with the Institute’s and Cory’s dedication to equalizing opportunity, priority is given to students with demonstrated financial need.
Find out more about past Cory L. Richards Memorial Scholarship recipients.