A Daughter’s Legacy, a Nation’s Need: The Scholarship Honoring Dr. Monica Hamilton Is Helping Close Medicine’s Diversity Gap
Dr. Monica Hamilton
TAMPA, Fla. — A little over a year ago, Wayne and Olga Hamilton lost their daughter, Dr. Monica Hamilton, a dentist whose warmth and grit left a mark on everyone she met. Today, because of a scholarship built in her name, two young dentists in training are chasing the same career she loved. Furthermore, a Tampa Bay nonprofit is betting that stories like theirs are the key to fixing one of American medicine’s oldest problems.
That nonprofit is Brain Expansions Scholastic Training, Inc., known simply as B.E.S.T. For nearly two decades, it has worked to put more Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous students on the path to becoming doctors, dentists, and nurses. This process starts years before those students ever fill out a college application.
The stakes behind that work are not abstract. Black and Hispanic/Latino individuals make up roughly a third of the U.S. population. However, they account for only about 11 percent of practicing physicians. They also account for less than 15 percent of medical students nationwide, according to a 2020 Harvard Global Health Initiative report cited in B.E.S.T.’s program materials. The same research found that physicians are twice as likely to underestimate pain in Black patients as in others. This bias can mean the difference between a correct diagnosis and a missed one.
Meet B.E.S.T. Founder Dr. Dexter Frederick
B.E.S.T. was built by someone who understood that gap firsthand. Dr. Dexter Frederick grew up in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, before training as an Internal Medicine and Pediatrician. He founded the organization on a simple idea: young people can’t dream of a career they’ve never seen up close.
Today he is a diplomat of the American Board of Pediatrics and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. These honors sit alongside recognition as a Tampa Bay Lightning Community Hero, a Tampa Police Citizen of the Year, and a 2022 AARP Purpose Prize Fellow.
His own Caribbean upbringing shows up in who B.E.S.T. serves today. Notably, their mission increasingly reaches Caribbean-American students alongside the broader communities the organization was built for.
Medical Pathway Paradigm
The organization runs on what it calls the Medical Pathway Paradigm, ten interconnected programs that meet students as early as the fifth grade and stay with them through high school and beyond. The approach is hands-on at every stage.
Fifth graders in the Dunbar Docs program get their first real look at anatomy and medical careers.
Middle schoolers at Sligh join the Surgical and Memory Club, where they study alongside real surgical procedures and pick up the study habits that will carry them through school.
High schoolers at Tampa Bay Technical High School go further still. They sit in on live surgeries streamed by Zoom. Also, they hear directly from college admissions officers and working physicians. All of it runs through an official partnership with Hillsborough County Public Schools, the seventh-largest school district in the country.
Summer Medical Academy
The program’s flagship, the Summer Medical Academy, places about 50 to 100 students a year in shadowing placements, anatomy courses, and college-prep training. Partners like Moffitt Cancer Center and Grace Community Medical Center open their doors.
It’s working. Roughly 98 percent of the high schoolers accepted into the Summer Medical Academy go on to finish college. Afterward, they pursue further study in medicine or a related field. This fall, 13 B.E.S.T. scholars will be starting medical school. Four more will begin their residencies in Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Anesthesia and Family Practice.
A Scholarship Built on Resilience and Perseverance
Dr. Monica Hamilton
That mission found a new champion in Wayne Hamilton, a retired Fortune 100 executive, and his wife, Olga. In 2025, together with B.E.S.T., they established the Dr. Monica Hamilton Resilience & Perseverance Scholarship. The aim is to support the next generation of dental students.
For those who knew her, Dr. Monica Hamilton’s legacy is easy to describe: resilience, perseverance, compassion, and a stubborn commitment to helping other people succeed.
The scholarship carries that spirit forward. It covers board exams, licensing fees, and other costs that can otherwise put dental school out of reach for talented students.
It has already awarded $15,000 to Zaire Johnson and Ashlee Skinner. These two dental students are carrying forward Monica’s spirit of mentorship, mission, and service.
The Hamilton Family at the 2025 Diamonds in the Rough Gala
“A year has passed, yet the radiant joy she brought to our lives continues to illuminate our path, filling our hearts with gratitude rather than sorrow,” the Hamilton’s said.
“We honor her enduring legacy by contributing to the scholarship that bears her name, empowering current dental students to reach new heights.”
The fund has raised $49,000 toward its $100,000 goal, and the Hamiltons are racing a deadline.
Diamonds in the Rough Gala
On October 10, 2026, at the Diamonds in the Rough Gala in Tampa, they plan to present two more scholarships in Monica’s name. Getting there means raising the remaining $51,000 before that night.
Zaire Johnson is putting the scholarship to work at Howard University College of Dentistry, where the funds are covering board exams and residency applications.
L-R: Dr. Dexter Frederick, Wayne Hamilton, Jasmine, Olga Hamilton and Zaire Johnson Scholarship recipient.
“I would like to thank the Hamilton Family for believing in my ability to be a representation of what Dr. Monica Hamilton represented,” Johnson said.
“This scholarship has been a true blessing with easing the financial hardship of my matriculation at Howard University College of Dentistry.”
Ashlee Skinner
At Loma Linda University School of Dentistry, Ashlee Skinner says the award has let her focus on becoming a dentist instead of worrying about how to pay for it.
“I am truly honored to receive this generous award,” Ashlee said.
“I plan to honor Dr. Hamilton’s legacy by serving patients with both my skills and my heart.”
L-R: Jasmine, Olga Hamilton, Zaire Johnson, Ashlee Skinner and Wayne Hamilton at the Diamonds in the Rough Gala 2025
B.E.S.T. is Expanding
B.E.S.T. isn’t stopping in Tampa. The organization has outlined an $8.3 million, three-year plan to expand the Medical Pathway Paradigm into more Tampa Bay schools. It also aims to carry it into Orlando and St. Petersburg. Eventually, they want to build it into a licensable model other communities can adopt. Early talks are already underway with school districts in Maryland, New Jersey, and California.
For an organization that believes medical representation starts in fifth grade, the next three years may decide its reach.
