It’s 4 a.m. and third-year medical student Sarina Amin is starting her general surgery rotation shift at Florida Hospital, where she’ll be on until 10 a.m. the following day.

Amin is one of 41 students in the UCF College of Medicine’s charter class, who, thanks to the generosity of more than 100 donors, received full, four-year scholarships — a first by any medical college in U.S. history.

Amin’s scholarship was donated by the Edyth Bush Foundation. “Words cannot express the gratitude I feel for my scholarship,” Amin says. “I have a great relationship with my donors, and I meet with them often to update them on my progress and my experiences throughout medical school.”

One of those experiences was particularly touching for Amin. “I was called for an organ procurement from a teenage donor,” she explains. “As I listened to the notes written by the patient’s family, I tried to hold back my tears. It was one of the saddest moments that I have ever experienced as a medical student, but it was also reassuring to know that several lives would benefit from this one donor’s gift.”

Although the future Dr. Amin enjoys long-term continuity of care and performing procedures in the operating room, she’s not yet sure about the area in which she’d like to practice. However, she knows she will find the right fit by the end of her clinical rotations. In addition, she hopes to continue her residency training in Florida and practice locally — with her family nearby.

The UCF College of Medicine, along with the UCF Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, is an integral part of the growing medical city at Lake Nona, which includes Nemours Children’s Hospital, the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the VA Medical Center and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. This life sciences cluster is projected to generate more than $7 billion in annual economic activity, as well as 30,000 jobs.