Weill Cornell Medicine has announced a $5.6 million gift from Louise and Leonard Riggio to establish a scholarship for medical students who are Black and have financial need.

The Holcomb-Riggio scholarship is named in honor of Dr. Kevin Holcomb, associate dean for admissions and professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology, who met the Riggios through a family member. This scholarship, which is part of Weill Cornell Medicine’s debt-free scholarship program for financially eligible medical students, will cover the full cost of two students’ attendance for all four years of medical school. The Riggio scholarship replaces that portion of the scholarship package that a student would receive regardless of race and increases the overall pool of funding available to the debt-free scholarship program.

“This scholarship is a little drop in a huge ocean,” said Riggio, the founder and retired CEO of Barnes & Noble. “But we’re hoping that other people will see what we’re doing and say, ‘That’s a lovely idea. We’d like to join,’ or ‘We’d like to do this ourselves.’”

“Having my name on this scholarship fills me with pride and serves as a source of motivation to ensure the success of the Holcomb-Riggio scholars,” said Holcomb. “The underrepresentation of Black physicians is a critical factor in the increased burden of disease seen in the Black community. The Riggios and I realize this is not a matter of altruism — it’s a matter of life and death.”