Smith Scholar Spotlight

Candice A. Gabriel, M.D.

Candice Gabriel, M.D. knew at age 7 that she wanted to be a physician. Her younger brother was injured in a fire and spent several months at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters and several years recovering from his injuries. Because of that “I spent a lot of time in hospitals as a kid,” the Norfolk resident recalls. “I never said I wanted to be anything but a doctor.”

Gabriel, who has volunteered at CHKD for several years, graduated in 2007 from Eastern Virginia Medical School. She is currently in a pediatrics residency through EVMS and CHKD and plans to practice medicine in Hampton Roads.

Gabriel has been helped by a Florence L. Smith Medical Scholarship for four years. As one of four children whose ages span only five years, paying for college was a challenge. Her older sister, Noelle, who is already an EVMS graduate, had received a Norfolk Foundation scholarship during undergraduate school so Gabriel was familiar with the Hampton Roads Community Foundation’s scholarship program.

“There is no way I could express how much the scholarship helps me. Medical school is a huge burden financially,” Gabriel says. “It has been a Godsend not to max out on my loans.”