The Dick Brown Healthcare Leadership Scholarship is a one-time, annual scholarship of $2,500 awarded by the Montana Hospital Association and Montana Health Research and Education Foundation. Students enrolled in a graduate program for healthcare administration at a Montana college or university and/or are currently working at a Montana healthcare facility are eligible to apply.

The scholarship is named for Dick Brown, a healthcare administrator whose leadership in healthcare administration spanned more than 40 years in Montana. His work had significant and lasting impacts on the healthcare system in Montana, benefiting nearly every Montana resident by protecting access to care in Montana’s most rural communities, ensuring the viability of community hospitals statewide, and leading efforts to improve the quality of care and health outcomes for Montana patients.

Dick Brown served as the CEO of Liberty Medical Center (Chester, Mont.) and in senior roles at the Montana Hospital Association (Helena, Mont.), including 12 years as president and CEO until his retirement in 2019. He served on several national boards and councils, including with the American Hospital Association where he provided a strong voice for healthcare in rural and frontier communities. His work with U.S. Senator Max Baucus in the 1990s helped to create the Critical Access Hospital designation in the U.S., a move that helped ensure the financial viability of our nation’s smallest hospitals and protected access to care for countless rural communities—including 49 hospitals in Montana.

Requirements

An essay of no more than four pages detailing their plans for graduate work and the work they hope to do in providing non-clinical leadership in healthcare in Montana.

Essays should include a description of the graduate program to which the student has been admitted; brief account of undergraduate focus and study (or recent professional experience in healthcare) and an explanation of the student’s interest in healthcare leadership and administration. The successful applicant will also detail plans for applying for administrative/leadership roles in Montana.

Applicants are required to provide an unofficial transcript or letter of acceptance to verify status of their enrollment.

Key Dates

• Applications due: July 21, 2023
• Notification of selection (approx.): Second week of August 2023
• Fund distribution will take place approximately September 1, 2023

To Apply

Apply online here.