Continuously active since 2007, the Athena Institute Pre-Med Hospice Volunteer Program  has the overall mission to instill in pre-med students a sense of humanity and understanding towards the geriatric patient and 'end-of-life' care through hospice service... and to provide patients an opportunity to educate these young students in how to listen to their needs.

Athena Institute awards substantial funding for The Pre-Med Hospice Volunteer Program research grant to Ardmore Presbyterian Church Foundation to encourage pre-med students to volunteer service in local hospices. Read the Graduate Reflection Essays. Graduate Reflection Essays.

Athena offers an opportunity for local high school students to conduct research by interviewing the college students who are current premed hospice volunteers to learn whether the ongoing program is delivering what it promises to those college students, and submitting to Rev. Dr. Robinson their findings and analysis. In 2017, these 5 seniors who were immersed in their own college applications, performed this volunteer service.

High school students conducted Quality Control surveys as a focus group designed to gain feedback from the college student volunteers in order to improve the program.

The seeds of what is now our much larger program, Athena Institute awarded its first hospice grant to Ohio Presbyterian Retirement Services to support med school students service to seniors in need; 2006

Our substantial ongoing philanthropy to Ursinus College, Dr. Cutler's undergraduate alma mater, prompted this article in an Ursinus magazine, on the second of our 3 major 5 year grants.

March 2018, With support from a Student Research and Creativity travel grant and Dr. Winnifred Cutler, President of Athena Institute, Ursinus Student Temi Olafunmiloye was able to present her work at at the 75th annual scientific meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, the members of which examine processes at the intersection of psychology and medicine.

Athena Institute offers summer internships for exceptional students to experience mission-based, research and business focused assignments. Since 1986 interns have learned the 'scientific method' and contributed their skills during school break. Read their feedback, and review current openings posted here.

Athena offers Paid summer internships for exceptional students in areas such as Social Media, Research, and Content Creation.

Past interns have created our Searching for Admission handbook for applying to medical school, researched Medicare rules for Hospice reimburesments, and surveyed Hospice Volunteers for ways to improved our Hospice program.

Athena Institute is pleased to offer a guide to medical school applications available on pdf file for download. This manual Searching For Admission: The Smart PreMed Student's Guide to Applying for Medical School is a 'take-home' personal advisor to the admissions process.

The Athena Institute Fund for Behavioral Immunology in Women’s Wellness made its first substantial award in May of 2023 to Robert M Kaplan, PhD a preeminent scholar in the Stanford Clinical Excellence Research Center who has agreed to direct research on which behavioral habits generate measurable improvements in immune strength of peri and post-menopausal women.

With a series of viral pandemics generating fear worldwide, it seems timely to discover what these women can do to build their resistance through their own self efficacy.

The I Ching teaches that the smallest thing in the universe will overcome the largest thing in the universe and that without substance can enter where there is no room.

We hope this new research will generate a contribution to knowledge as we learn how a woman can improve her own immune system to enable it to better withstand the inevitable intrusion of new airborne viruses.

International Menopause Society 2022. This donation will be used to support vital initiatives to increase awareness and knowledge of menopause and midlife women’s health around the world.

Research Grant to Kinsey Institute for the Study of Hysterectomy and Sexual Deficits; 2006

This research award went to Dr. Julia Heiman, Director of Kinsey Institute, for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, at Indiana University Medical School.

Athena Institute awarded a research grant to Cindy Meston, Ph.D. in 2003. Dr. Meston's study, The Effects of Hysterectomy on the Subjective and Physiological Sexual Function of Women with Benign Uterine Fibroids, was published in Archives of Sexual Behavior (Feb. 2004).

In August 2015, Athena Institute President Dr. Winnifred Cutler and her husband, Thomas E. Quay, Esquire, the Institute's General Counsel, made a substantial financial gift to Ursinus College to sponsor its Entrepreneurial Psychology Research Fund. The grant will support faculty and student research projects exploring the habits and experiences of young generations and will create the "Psychology Faculty and Student Support Fund" under the direction of Dr. Cathy Chambliss, Department Chair.

Athena Institute supports high-school students through the Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week organization which offers an intensive program motivating and educating students about business and the free enterprise system. Read students' feedback; click here