In the late 1960s, as political turmoil gripped Romania, Maria-Chrisi Theodorakakis—a Greek born in Caracal, Romania—made a life-altering decision to move her parents, Maria and Paraskevas Theodorakakis, to Greece. In Athens, she worked as a beloved pharmacist-practitioner for more than two decades, discovering her passion for improving patients’ lives through personalized, patient-centered care.
Her journey of courage and service didn’t end there. In the 1980s, after marrying Kenneth K. White, an American industrial engineer, she relocated her family to the United States to create more opportunities for them, including her young daughter. After settling in Ohio, she completed her pharmacist training again so she could continue practicing, despite having already earned a degree in pharmacy from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest.
For two more decades, she cared for countless patients in Ohio and was widely known for her dedication to personalized patient care. She took the time to learn their medical histories and to get to know them as people, advising them on how to take their medicines and which medicines best met their needs. She passionately believed in the thoughtful use of small-molecule medicines to improve quality of life and worked as a pharmacist until her death in 2010.
Her son-in-law, Martin D. “Marty” Burke, PhD ’04, MD ’05 (Class of 2002), is honoring White’s remarkable legacy with a $500,000 gift to Harvard Medical School that establishes the Maria-Chrisi Theodorakakis White Endowed MD Scholarship Fund. Burke, chair of alumni giving for HMS, is passionate about giving back to the School in appreciation of the “transformative” education he received. He is particularly dedicated to ensuring that HMS can attract the best and brightest future physician leaders, regardless of socioeconomic background.
“My mother-in-law believed strongly in higher education as a path to a happy and fulfilled life,” says Burke, currently the May and Ving Lee Professor for Chemical Innovation at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “She worked tirelessly as a pharmacist to support me and my wife during our time in graduate and medical school, enabling us to focus on our studies without having to get jobs or take out many loans. Her gift empowered me to pursue my ambitious goals, and I am thus keenly aware of the empowerment that financial support during medical school can provide. I hope this scholarship will similarly enable many others to pursue their dreams at HMS.”
Students who receive support from the fund will learn about White’s story, linking their educational journeys to her example of resilience and patient-centered care.
“Marty’s extraordinary generosity in establishing an endowed MD scholarship fund in honor of his late mother-in-law is a deeply meaningful and special tribute to her legacy,” says Bernard S. Chang, AB ’93, MD, MMSc ’05, HMS dean for medical education. “Raising funds for financial aid is one of my most important priorities, and this support will have a lasting impact on our students.”
An MD student’s first week at Harvard Medical School