Scholarship Established in West Michigan Doctor's Memory
February 20, 2024
“To whom much is given, much is required.”
This quote reflects the sense of responsibility primary care physician Dr. Peter Lundeen feels toward improving health access, increasing physician representation for underserved communities, and removing the debt burden for medical school students through scholarship support.
These are the same motivations which drove Dr. Lundeen to establish a new scholarship at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, which will soon support students in West Michigan pursuing a medical degree.
The Dr. Robert W. Claytor Memorial Endowed Scholarship will be awarded to third- and fourth-year medical students at MSU interested in primary care areas—internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, or obstetrics and gynecology—who wish to practice in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Preference will be given to members of the Student National Medical Association, who have demonstrated a history of volunteer service in their community, which was important to Dr. Lundeen.
“Witnessing health care disparities in the community in which I have practiced my entire professional life and seeing first-hand how the COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected underserved groups of people in West Michigan, really opened my eyes to not only the need for but also the criticality of creating positive change,” said Dr. Lundeen. “Part of the solution needs to be improving the diversity of health care providers serving our community. Studies have shown that increasing the number of Black physicians in a community correlates with lower mortality and morbidity in communities of color.”
As an added support, Claytor Scholars will receive a mentorship opportunity through Corewell Health’s Health Equity and Leadership (HEAL) Scholar program. The HEAL scholars pursue a health equity project and are paired with a faculty mentor; they also serve as mentors to medical students from underrepresented backgrounds.
“Not only will College of Human Medicine students receive scholarship funds, but these scholars will also receive the benefits which come with learning from and serving alongside residents,” added College of Human Medicine Dean Aron Sousa. “This is a wonderful component of the scholarship, and we are so pleased to continue building on our strong community partnership with Corewell Health.”
Honoring a life well-lived
While many donors choose to name funds after themselves, Dr. Lundeen has chosen to name his fund in honor of another physician, one who serves as a role model for the goals of the scholarship.
Dr. Robert W. Claytor was born to formerly enslaved parents in post-Civil War Virginia and was the youngest of 13 children. Dr. Claytor graduated from Meharry Medical College, a Historically Black College in 1934. Limited job opportunities in the South brought Dr. Claytor to Grand Rapids. He was the area’s third Black doctor and the first Black doctor to join the staff at Saint Mary’s Hospital. It took ten years for him to be appointed to medical staff at Butterworth, only being appointed after the intervention of his friend, Episcopal Bishop Lewis Bliss Wittimore, who was a member Butterworth's board of directors.
Over his career as a family physician, Dr. Claytor delivered well over a thousand babies, and is remembered for arranging long-term payment plans for patients who could not afford his care.
Dr. Claytor was deeply committed to the community beyond providing medical care. He co-founded an organization with Bishop Wittimore which evolved into the Grand Rapids Urban League, where he served as president from 1946 to 1949, and was a lifetime member of the Grand Rapids chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He held memberships in the Grand Rapids South Rotary, Madison Square Business Association, and Kent County Medical Society.
Helen Claytor, Dr. Claytor’s wife, was also a force for good in the Grand Rapids community. She was the first African American president of the Grand Rapids YWCA in 1949. In 1967 she was elected president of the YWCA National Board of Directors. She was the first African American to hold that office, a position she held until 1973. At the 1970 National YWCA conference, she led them in adopting “the One Imperative: to thrust our collective power to the elimination of racism wherever it exists and by any means necessary.” There is a scholarship named in honor of Helen Claytor, awarded to underrepresented students at Grand Valley State University.
In 1976, Dr. Claytor received the Michigan Family Physician of the Year Award from the Michigan Academy of Family Practice (MAFP)—one year after Dr. Lundeen began working at Butterworth Hospital—and was recognized by the MAFP in 1984 for fifty years of family medical practice. Dr. Claytor died in 1989 at the age of 91.
“Dr. Claytor was never truly recognized for his contributions during his lifetime, and he has an incredible story,” Dr. Lundeen said. “When this idea came about, I met with Dr. Claytor’s daughter Judith, to seek her support in creating a scholarship in her father’s name. She and her sister Sharon were delighted with this recognition of their father’s leadership role in providing medical care to the Black community in Grand Rapids. I am thankful to be in a place that I can make this commitment.”
The legacy left by Dr. Claytor, and now with the support of Dr. Lundeen and others who believe in the scholarship goals, will surely echo through future generations of Spartan MDs for decades to come.
To learn more about supporting students and increasing representation for future physicians, email Associate Director of Development Marci Muller or call (616) 234-2611.
Author: Sarah Enlow