Estate Gift Establishes Scholarship for Aspiring Physicians

A recent estate gift from the late Dr. Ella Cooper Bell ’34 will establish the Dr. E. Cooper Bell Scholarship at Winthrop University. The renewable scholarship will be available to Winthrop students pursuing medical degrees through the pre-med program while majoring in Chemistry or Biology.

Dr. Bell finished at Winthrop College in 1934 with a degree in Chemistry, then earned a Master of Science degree from Emory and an M.D. from Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Bell also served on Winthrop’s faculty from 1942-1943. She was the first female M.D. from Lancaster, SC and practiced internal medicine in Philadelphia, PA for forty years, retiring in 1979.

The Dr. E. Cooper Bell Scholarship will continue Dr. Bell’s legacy by helping aspiring doctors studying at Winthrop. It is estimated that Dr. Bell’s generous estate gifts, totaling over $326,000, will generate approximately $10,000 in scholarship dollars each year in perpetuity.