The Eakins Scholarship is named in honor of Mr. Thomas Eakins, the Philadelphia native who painted the famous 1875 portrait of Dr. Samuel Gross called The Gross Clinic. Dr. Gross was regarded as the Emperor of American Surgery in the 19th century having written 14 books and 1,200 articles on surgery, general medicine, and medical history. Dr. Gross graduated from then Jefferson Medical College in 1828 and was the first alumnus to be appointed to a professorship at Jefferson and serve as Chair of Surgery from 1856-1882 and Co-Chair of Surgery from 1882-1889. Students may apply only once per academic year for this scholarship.