Tillman Scholars in the News

We’re proud of these Tillman Scholars for continuing to make an impact on their communities. Read on to see how they continue to lead through action.

Jonathan Wood, 2016 Tillman Scholar

Jonathan Wood published an op-ed piece in USA Today on safety protocols as COVID-19 restrictions begin to lift in many states and how his experience as an Air Force veteran and a family resident physician compare during this crisis. In the piece, Jonathan discusses the importance of continuing to support the frontline workers of the COVID-19 pandemic even as restrictions lift by ensuring the use of masks, vaccines, and unity.

Jonathan spent 7 years as an Air Force intelligence officer. During his service, he said the greatest lesson he learned was the importance of purposeful risk-taking and the paradox that risk-aversion is the surest path to failure. In his post-military life, he has been inspired by the vision of a group of Christian doctors who moved into the poorest, most medically neglected and most “dangerous” neighborhoods of Memphis in an effort to redress the social and racial schisms underlying healthcare disparities.

Jameson Lopez, 2015 Tillman Scholar

Jameson Lopez was named the 2021 Erasmus Circle Fellow at the University of Arizona College of Education. The Erasmus Circle Fellows are faculty leaders who have demonstrated excellence in their fields and are selected annually by the College of Education Advisory Board. This distinction is one of the highest honors bestowed to faculty by the College of Education.

Jameson is an Army veteran and was responsible for coordinating over 300 combat missions with the Iraqi and Kurdish security forces. Experiences during deployments taught Jameson to adapt to environments to accomplish the mission at hand, but his experience attending a funeral of a teenage boy on a reservation made him realize the importance of educators’ influence on young Native American students in a small community.

Megan Malone, 2017 Tillman Scholar

Megan Malone was a featured guest on San Diego State University’s Post-Graduate Panel Series: A Journey to Holistic Well-Being, where she discussed her company, The Akazi Project, a women’s accessory line that funds all operations of her women’s health clinic in Malawi, Africa.

Megan moved to Thailand and began working in a hospital with the Red Cross while her husband was deployed. Immersing herself in Thai culture, she saw the burden that disease and lack of resources has on communities. Upon her return home, she focused her efforts on public health and volunteered in Cambodia, Mexico, Peru, and the United States, and working with the Department of Defense HIV Prevention Program. Megan has focused her career on bridging gaps in care for women domestically and abroad, while creating more equitable and innovative approaches to healthcare access.