Family Of Four Alumni Establishes Scholarship

When Dr. Tapan Chaudhuri and his siblings decided to honor their parents’ commitment to higher education, they established an endowed scholarship in their memory at Old Dominion.

Created by a gift of $26,000, the award will go to an undergraduate biology major who plans to attend medical school.

Thanks to the commitment of the late Sri Taposh K. and Srimati Bulu Rani Chowdhury, all 10 of their children and all 20 grandchildren have attended college, and most have earned advanced degrees. The academic alphabet soup includes everything from B.A. to M.D. to Ph.D. In addition to Tapan, three of the siblings have medical degrees. Of the 20 grandchildren – all four of Tapan’s children received ODU degrees – there are nine with M.D.s, and another two who are working toward their M.D.

The four ODU graduates are: Dr. Lakshmi Chaudhuri ’94 (B.S., biology), medical director and geriatric physician at a nursing home in Newport News; Madhu Chaudhuri ’03, ’06 (B.S., finance; M.B.A.), an associate financial analyst with Northrop Grumman in Newport News; Dr. Krishna Chaudhuri ’03 (B.S., biology), a resident in radiology at Eastern Virginia Medical School; and Deboki Chaudhuri ’05 (B.S., biology), a fourth-year medical student at EVMS.

Dr. Tapan Chaudhuri, a professor of radiology at EVMS and clinical director of nuclear medicine at the V.A. Medical Center in Hampton, said he and his siblings established the scholarship to recognize their parents’ “sacrifice, perseverance and achievement in raising their 10 children first in India, and then sending them to America for higher education, and to honor their ‘recipe’ for raising and educating their children.” He added that he and his siblings were able to attend college through scholarships and loans, along with some financial contributions from their parents and other family members.

In addition to Dr. Chaudhuri, the following siblings contributed to the ODU scholarship: Dr. Tuhin Chaudhuri, Dr. Tandra Chaudhuri, Dr. Tarun Chaudhury, Dr. Triptesh Chaudhury, Tanmay Chowdhury and Tripti Bhaduri.

Dr. Chaudhuri and his wife, Chhanda, together with their children, chose ODU for its joint program with EVMS and the fact that they were impressed by the university’s programs and staff. Of the scholarship, he said, “We wanted to give something back to express our thanks and appreciation to ODU and its professors who contributed toward the education of our children.”