Dr. Gilbert H. Berken, the scholarship fund is named on his memory
Magdalen R. Berken had generously donated $25,000 to start the Dr. Gilbert H. Berken Endowed Scholarship Fund at NSU’s Center for Psychological Studies. The purpose of the scholarship is to provide financial support to graduate students who demonstrate significant financial need.
“It is my pleasure to honor my husband’s memory with the Gilbert H. Berken endowed scholarship fund. He was the dearest husband and father to our family. He would have been very proud to know we are helping students pursue higher education in his name”.
Gilbert H. Berken M.D.(1937 – 2006) was born into a family who fled their native Transylvania during the persecution of the Jews. After completing his psychiatric residency at Duke University he spent two years in the Air Force as a captain at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. This was during the Vietnam War. Many of his patients came directly from the battlefields and suffered from disabling psychiatric problems such as post-traumatic stress syndrome and severe anxiety. In addition to his private practice, he also served as Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Hollywood Memorial Hospital for a number of years. He supervised many NSU doctoral students while he was in practice. When he retired from Memorial Hospital he was appointed Emeritus Physician in 1998 after 30 years of service to the Hospital.
The first recipient of the scholarship is Angela Kuemmel, M.S. Angela is pursuing a career in Rehabilitation Psychology and hopes to work with patients who have suffered spinal cord injuries, brain injuries and strokes. Angela’s passion is to use her clinical skills to work with people with disabilities suffering from mental disorders. According to Angela, “Mrs. Berken scholarship will make a difference not only in my life, but also in the lives of the patients we help.”
Magdalen R. Berken and her daughter Christina at the CPS Humanitarian of the Year Award event last February.
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