Abdalrahman Elakcher Named Buckfire & Buckfire, P.C. Medical School Diversity Scholarship Winner

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – Oct. 19, 2026 – Buckfire Law is pleased to announce Abdalrahman Elakcher, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been named this year’s recipient of the 2026 Buckfire & Buckfire, P.C. Medical School Diversity Scholarship.

This annual award began in 2014 as a way for the Michigan-based law firm to show its commitment to helping medical students pursue their educational and career goals. 

Elakcher is currently a second-year medical student at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. He previously received his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from New Mexico State University.

As a bilingual student who grew up moving between cultures, Elakcher understands how alienating health care can feel when it does not reflect people’s experiences. During a regional Point-in-Time count in Albuquerque, he met an unhoused man with a frostbitten foot who had avoided medical care for days. Elakcher listened without judgment and provided clean socks and dry bandages.

“That encounter solidified what health equity truly means to me: that medicine must exist beyond hospital walls, where our most vulnerable neighbors are often left behind,” said Elakcher.

Elakcher is committed to serving Albuquerque’s unhoused community. Through a partnership with Manara, he organized supply drives that provided winter gear to more than 25 people, and he helped lead weekly food programs that served more than 75 people. As a leader in the UNM School of Medicine’s SMHART group, he directed outreach during the Point-in-Time count, when his team connected with more than 100 unsheltered individuals over three days.

He also volunteers weekly at the Albuquerque Opportunity Center clinic, supporting primary care and health navigation for patients in transitional shelters.

After seeing patients in psychiatric settings return to the same instability that led to their crisis, Elakcher researched crisis care and psychiatric shortages across New Mexico, studying how gaps in community care lead to avoidable emergency admissions.

Elakcher plans to become a future physician, building a career that combines clinical medicine, psychiatry, and street-based outreach. He hopes to create mobile, multidisciplinary health teams that bring psychiatric care, harm reduction, and primary care directly to unhoused patients across New Mexico.

“Abdalrahman understands that good care starts with showing up for people,” said Lawrence J. Buckfire, President and Lead Trial Attorney at Buckfire Law. “His work with Albuquerque’s unhoused community reflects a genuine commitment to his future patients. We are proud to name him this year’s Buckfire Law Medical School Diversity Scholarship winner.” 

Buckfire Law Firm awards one student each year with the $2,000 Buckfire & Buckfire, P.C. Medical School Diversity Scholarship. The scholarship is available to students attending medical school who demonstrate a commitment to issues of diversity within their community. As of 2026, Buckfire & Buckfire, P.C. has awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships.

Buckfire Law offers four annual academic scholarships for students seeking to continue their education. For more information on the scholarship program, visit: buckfirelaw.com/scholarships/medical.