For the current award cycle, one recipient will be selected as the QD Fund Scholar and awarded a $10,000 scholarship through an essay based selection process recognizing resilience, perseverance, and a commitment to advancing mental health within healthcare.
The QD Fund exists to help individuals persevere in the face of adversity. The Scholarship supports undergraduate and graduate students pursuing careers in healthcare and behavioral health, particularly those who understand that mental wellness is foundational to effective patient care.
The initiative recognizes students who have faced personal hardship in their life and who seek to translate personal adversity into meaningful impact. Structured in collaboration with QD Apparel (QD Holdings Inc.), a purpose-driven apparel brand rooted in healthcare culture and resilience (www.wearqd.com), the scholarship reflects a belief that mental wellness is not optional, it is essential to strengthening the broader healthcare system.
Founded by Registered Nurse, healthcare entrepreneur, and mental health advocate Aaron Chan, this scholarship reflects a conviction that meaningful progress in healthcare begins with individuals who show up every day through adversity, pressure, and uncertainty to serve others. Healthcare professionals are often the quiet heroes of our communities, committing their lives to caring for others while navigating their own challenges. Whether shaped by trauma, financial strain, burnout, depression, or life-altering circumstances, applicants are encouraged to share their story, their vision, and their commitment to advancing mental health awareness and compassionate care within their chosen healthcare field.
The QD Fund scholarship supports undergraduate and graduate students pursuing careers in healthcare and behavioral health disciplines where mental wellness plays a critical role in patient care. This includes, but is not limited to, nursing, medicine, psychology, psychiatry, social work, counseling, psychiatric nursing, and related healthcare fields. This scholarship is especially intended for students who have experienced personal adversity and understand firsthand how mental health challenges can shape resilience, purpose, and empathy. Whether navigating depression, trauma, financial hardship, burnout, family responsibilities, or other life-altering circumstances, applicants should demonstrate a commitment to transforming lived experience into meaningful impact for others. Students who believe mental wellness should be treated with the same urgency and dignity as physical health and who are committed to serving others within their chosen healthcare profession are strongly encouraged to apply.
Aaron Chan is a Registered Nurse, healthcare entrepreneur, and mental health advocate. He is the Founder and CEO of Legacy Care Group, a Massachusetts-based healthcare staffing and consulting organization founded in 2019, primarily supporting the chronically ill, homeless population and underserved communities across the Commonwealth. Aaron is also the founder of QD Apparel (QD Holdings Inc.), a purpose driven apparel brand rooted in healthcare culture, resilience, and everyday self-care (www.wearqd.com). Raised in Medford, Massachusetts by a single mother who worked as a pediatric and adolescent care Registered Nurse, Aaron developed an early understanding of the importance of empathy, sacrifice, and perseverance.
His clinical background spans emergency medicine, hospice care, chronic disease management, and post-transplant care at institutions including Massachusetts General Hospital. These experiences, combined with personal hardship and recovery, shaped his commitment to ethical leadership, mental health awareness, and community impact. Through The QD Fund, Aaron aims to provide support for the next generation of healthcare professionals who are committed to advancing mental wellness within their fields. Applicants, particularly those who have faced adversity on their journey, should be driven to serve patients with integrity, The QD Fund initiative reflects his belief that the healthcare professionals who dedicate their lives to caring for others deserve support as well.
The QD Fund scholarship is an essay-based award structured in collaboration with QD Apparel (QD Holdings Inc.), a purpose-driven apparel brand built around the principle that showing up, especially on hard days, matters (www.wearqd.com). For the current award cycle, one recipient will be awarded a $10,000 scholarship.
This scholarship was created to invest in undergraduate and graduate students who view mental wellness not as an abstract concept, but as an essential component of effective healthcare. Mental health impacts individuals, families, and entire communities, and the professionals who serve within these systems must be equipped to navigate both clinical and emotional complexity.
Applicants are invited to reflect on their personal experiences, professional goals, and vision for advancing mental health awareness and compassionate care within their chosen healthcare field through a thoughtful written essay.
The selection process prioritizes authenticity, clarity of purpose, and a demonstrated commitment to strengthening mental wellness through education, advocacy, or clinical practice.
Pursuing a career in healthcare, particularly in roles where mental wellness and patient advocacy are central, often requires emotional labor, financial sacrifice, and long-term commitment. The award will award a $10,000 scholarship intended to help reduce the financial burden of undergraduate or graduate education, whether applied toward tuition, books, clinical training costs, licensing preparation, or other academic expenses.
More than financial support, this scholarship represents recognition. It affirms that resilience matters, lived experience carries value, and the healthcare professionals who dedicate their lives to serving others deserve investment especially those who continue to show up, day after day, in pursuit of meaningful impact.
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The QD Fund is proudly supported by QD Holdings Inc., a purpose driven apparel brand founded on consistency, resilience, and everyday self-discipline (www.wearqd.com). QD derived from quoque die, meaning “every day” represents the daily commitment required to care for oneself and others.
Through The QD Fund, we invest in future healthcare professionals who advance mental wellness within their fields and lead with empathy, integrity, and purpose because meaningful impact is built one day at a time.
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