The Amputee Coalition has announced that Annie Garofalo of Medfield, Massachusetts, is the 2011 recipient of the $1,000 Christina Skoski, MD, Scholarship. Garofalo will be honored at a gala dinner at the Amputee Coalition’s 2011 National Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday, June 4.
Based on her conviction that limb loss should not be a barrier to academic or professional success, Skoski established the scholarship through a $25,000 scholarship fund.
“On behalf of the Amputee Coalition, we are very pleased to announce Annie as the recipient of this prestigious award,” said Kendra Calhoun, president and CEO of the Amputee Coalition. “Not only has she excelled academically, but Annie is a remarkable young woman who has dedicated her life to helping others. She regularly speaks to young children with upper-limb differences and their families, telling them that they are not defined by limb loss. She has touched countless lives and serves as a role model for her peers. Annie embodies the definition of the Christina Skoski scholarship.”
Garofalo is an honors student who was born without a hand. Academically, she has pursued a demanding curriculum, with nine-honors and three advanced-placement courses. She will graduate with a 4.35 grade point average. As an athlete, Garofalo is a member of her high school field hockey and tennis teams. Philanthropically, she is a leader-in-training for the Amputee Coalition’s Paddy Rossbach Youth Camp, she is a volunteer and peer leader with the Helping Hands Foundation, and has spoken about living with limb loss to elementary classrooms throughout the Northeast since she was 13 years old.
Garofalo will be attending Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she will likely study neuroscience. She said her “career goals revolve around discovering new and innovative methods to solve problems in science and how they relate to people.”
