Dr. David Barham ’11 and his wife, Dr. Jessica Sundman Barham ’10, have become the youngest alumni donors to establish an endowed scholarship fund at Pfeiffer University.

The Barhams, both 35, have pledged annual amounts of $5k over the next five years until their scholarship is fully endowed at $25k. They made their first gift toward that goal in celebration of Pfeiffer Day 2025 on March 27.

“We are so excited that David and Jessica have decided to celebrate the experience they had at Pfeiffer by providing scholarships for future Falcons. Their generosity will make a difference for generations to come,” said Jo Ellen Newsome, Vice President of Institutional Advancement. “They are just so grateful for their Pfeiffer years. This is something they’ve talked about for a long time and it’s really inspiring to see their dream come to fruition.”

Both Barhams, who live in San Antonio, TX, were awarded scholarships while students at Pfeiffer. They say the aid not only enabled them to attend the University but also build a solid foundation for the careers they would enter after graduating – David is a urologist, and Jessica is a physical therapist. They view their scholarship as a way to help future students enjoy similar success.

“We’ve always taken the idea of servant leadership, as much as we can, to our hearts,” Jessica said. “We look for ways to serve others, and we’ve always just had this idea in our heads that a scholarship would be a good way to do that. We’ve been so lucky in life, really blessed in many avenues.”

David echoed this sentiment: “We’re just excited to have the opportunity to give back to Pfeiffer; it gave us so much early in our lives.”

Jessica, a first-generation college student, originally hails from the Orlando, Fla. area. She majored in Health and Exercise Science. Right after Pfeiffer, she attended the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in St. Augustine, Fla., where she earned a Doctorate in Physical Therapy.

She said that Pfeifer’s culture of small classes and caring professors made all the difference in gaining admission to St. Augustine, which was “really hard” to get into.

“I always knew I wanted to be a physical therapist, but I didn’t know what work it took to get there,” she said. “Pfeiffer helped me come to terms with that and helped me rise to the occasion.”

Jessica, who played on the women’s lacrosse team, also lauded Pfeiffer for giving her time to include athletics in her schedule. She also served as a Resident Assistant, a position that helped her “learn more responsibility and how to speak to larger groups of people and how to take care of people who were sometimes having harder days than other days.”

Jessica is now focused on volunteering and caring for their two young children: John, 7, and Danielle, 3. She said she plans to return to work in some capacity in the future.

As for David, he serves as Assistant Professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD, and he’s an attending urologist and Associate Residency Program Director at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX. He is Deputy Editor in Chief of the Video Journal of Sexual Medicine (VJSM).

After majoring in Chemistry and playing second base on the baseball team at Pfeiffer, he attended the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University on the U.S. Army Health Professions Scholarship Program. He completed his residency in urology at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, HI, before pursuing a fellowship in Reconstructive Urologic Surgery at UC, Irvine.

He received the 2020 Presidential Merit Award from Pfeiffer; at that point, he was working on ways to reduce the over-prescription of opioids following urologic surgery. He was about to develop what he describes as “the skills to treat complex reconstructive surgical problems which many of our nation’s military face often as a result of injuries sustained in defense of our nation,” during the fellowship at UC, Irvine.

David, who originally hails from Wake Forest, N.C., said he can “trace a lot of my early adulthood maturity to things that I learned at Pfeiffer,” especially a work ethic that enabled him to tackle a demanding major and play baseball. He lauded mentors who enabled him to transition successfully from an undergraduate environment into medical school.

“I would not be where I am today, if it hadn’t been for some things that I learned at Pfeiffer,” he said.

Both Barhams hope that other young alumni will follow their example of establishing an endowed scholarship.

“It’s a great way to pay it forward,” Jessica said. “The world is harsh. If we could help people just a little bit by helping them get through college and put their best foot forward at an institution like Pfeiffer, the world will be kinder to them in the long run after that.”