Staff Report / October 23, 2025
Corning Incorporated has partnered with the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) at Elmira to create the Future Foundations Health Scholarship, an initiative designed to address physician shortages in rural areas of New York’s Southern Tier. The scholarship aims to attract and support medical students who are committed to providing care in underserved communities, particularly in Chemung and Steuben counties.
The program will award full tuition and mandatory fees—valued at up to $50,000 per year—to two students enrolled in LECOM’s Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) program. In exchange, recipients must agree to practice full-time in one of the two counties for at least four years after completing their residency, focusing on primary care specialties such as family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, or emergency medicine.
Corning leaders described the scholarship as a long-term investment in the health and vitality of local communities. By easing the financial burden of medical education, the program seeks to encourage future physicians to live and work in the region, helping to ensure that residents in rural areas continue to have access to quality healthcare.
