An independent crowdfunding campaign
Help Eli finish medical school
Four years completed. Two years to go. One dream worth finishing.
Every contribution will be documented through campaign updates.
We're finalising an international donation option that Eli & Ju can actually receive and account for.
Thank you for wanting to help
International donations to a Brazilian family come with real friction — currency, fees, and making sure the money actually reaches Eli & Ju and can be accounted for. We're setting that up properly before asking anyone to pay.
Leave your email and we'll notify you the moment the donation option is live, with your intended ready to go. No charge now.
Photograph of Eli
⚑ Add a real photo of Eli in a clinical or research setting
Four years down. Two to go.
Eli's path to medicine was not a straight line. It took a first degree, a detour through industry, a marriage, a move to São Paulo, and years of studying at night before he was admitted. He is now two-thirds of the way through the degree itself.
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Biomedicine
His first undergraduate degree — completed.
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Pharmaceutical industry
Stepped away from healthcare to help support the family after marriage.
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The decision to pursue medicine
Ju encouraged him to try again. They chose the plan together.
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Medical school admission
Admitted after studying while working.
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Years 1–4
Four years of coursework and clinical training completed.
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Cardiovascular research
Research experience connected to cardiology.
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Today
You are hereFinishing the fourth year. Financing pressure is now the main threat to continuing.
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The final two years
Clinical clerkships / internato and the last of tuition.
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Medical degree
Graduation.
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Cardiology
The specialisation Eli is working toward.
Why Eli?
This is not simply someone trying to obtain a medical degree. Eli has spent a decade building toward this, and his record in medical school reflects it.
Consistent academic performance
Grades reported consistently above 90%. ⚑ Attach transcript / grade summary (redacted) in Transparency
A prior science degree
Graduated in Biomedicine before entering medical school.
Cardiovascular research
Participates in scientific research connected to InCor — Instituto do Coração in São Paulo. ⚑ Confirm exact wording of Eli's role & affiliation before publishing
Research topics
Work related to cardiovascular recovery and the role of physical exercise; and research involving GLP-1 therapies such as semaglutide and cardiometabolic outcomes. ⚑ Confirm which projects can be described publicly
Scientific publications
Has participated in scientific publications. ⚑ List verifiable publications in the Academic Journey section
The goal
To specialise in Cardiology.
We deliberately do not overstate Eli's role, credentials, findings, authorship, or institutional affiliation. Everything on this page is intended to be verifiable — see the Academic Journey and Transparency pages.
The financial reality
Eli and Ju do not have family wealth or assets to finance a medical degree. To keep him enrolled, they became dependent on private student financing — and the cost of that financing is what now threatens the final stretch.
⚑ Verify the 42% annual rate against the actual financing contract before publishing Each semester another period of tuition is financed, which increases the total burden over time. Additional loans were taken to try to restructure the debt, which eventually became a debt snowball.
Where contributions go
Goal: $50,000 USD. The campaign is intended to help cover educational expenses and reduce the financing pressure threatening Eli's ability to complete his degree.
Why not government student aid?
Brazil has public and subsidised student-financing programs, but eligibility depends on specific socioeconomic and educational criteria. Ju and Eli's circumstances did not give them a sustainable subsidised route to complete a medical degree, so they relied heavily on private financing.
The broader problem is a difficult middle ground: some Brazilian families cannot independently afford an expensive medical education, while also not qualifying for enough subsidised assistance to make it financially sustainable. That is the gap this campaign is trying to bridge for the final two years.
⚑ Optional: add specifics of which programs were applied for / assessed, once confirmed
Photograph of Ju & Eli
⚑ Add a real photo of the couple
The person who refused to let him give up
When Eli weighed his responsibilities as a husband against the cost of pursuing medicine, Ju was the one who told him to keep going. They moved to São Paulo partly so she could pursue stronger career opportunities and raise their income.
For years, Ju has carried most of the responsibility for supporting their household while Eli studies. She now also runs consulting and entrepreneurial projects to bring in additional income. This campaign is not about making her the beneficiary — it's about the plan the two of them built together.
"I still believe in him as much as I did when we started. I just don't want money to be the reason he has to stop when he is this close."
This is not our first attempt to solve this
Crowdfunding is not where this started. Over the years Eli and Ju have already tried, in order, almost everything they could do on their own.
"We are asking for help now because we have exhausted many of the solutions we could create on our own."
Transparency
We believe asking strangers for help comes with a responsibility to be transparent. The full dashboard lives on its own page and will fill in as documents are verified and redacted for publication.
What a contribution does
We won't tell you "$100 pays for X days of medical school" — the real math depends on exchange rates and financing terms we're still documenting. What we can say honestly:
Thousands of small contributions can protect two years of education already built on four years of sacrifice.
We're finalising an international donation option that Eli & Ju can actually receive and account for.
Thank you for wanting to help
International donations to a Brazilian family come with real friction — currency, fees, and making sure the money actually reaches Eli & Ju and can be accounted for. We're setting that up properly before asking anyone to pay.
Leave your email and we'll notify you the moment the donation option is live, with your intended ready to go. No charge now.
From Eli
"My name is Eli. Becoming a doctor has been the longest and hardest goal of my life."
⚑ Record a 60–90 second video in Portuguese with professional English subtitles — authentic, not scripted in English
Eli's message · video coming soon
Follow the journey
This campaign doesn't end at "pay my tuition." Supporters can follow Eli through the final two years — coursework, research, the move into clerkships, and eventually "Eli graduated."
Questions people ask
Four years brought him here.
Help us make sure he gets to finish.
Whether it's $5, $50, or simply sharing Eli's story, every action helps us get closer to graduation.
We're finalising an international donation option that Eli & Ju can actually receive and account for.
Thank you for wanting to help
International donations to a Brazilian family come with real friction — currency, fees, and making sure the money actually reaches Eli & Ju and can be accounted for. We're setting that up properly before asking anyone to pay.
Leave your email and we'll notify you the moment the donation option is live, with your intended ready to go. No charge now.