Health & Medicine is very pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Schweitzer Fellowships, an award given to service-minded graduate students that will enable them to conduct innovative year-long projects to help underserved Chicago communities improve their health and well-being.

For example, Virginia Leung, a Rush University medical student, is starting a vegetable garden at King Elementary School to teach children about nutrition and the environment; Kaori Ema, a UIC dental student, will provide education, information and dental screenings to improve the oral health of seniors in assisted living centers; John Ryan Hayes, a Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine student, will work with Hispanic migrant workers to meet the health needs of their community; and Ryan Hollon, a UIC Urban Planning doctoral student,will train former prisoners in restorative justice methods at St. Leonard’s Ministries.  His project will aim to build community peacemaking capacity in high incarceration neighborhoods.

According to Dr. Quentin Young, chair of Health & Medicine and founder of the Chicago Schweitzer program, “There has never been a more important need for altruism in our nation’s life. The Schweitzer Fellowship – each and every year – gives rich expression to this impulse to competitively selected health students in our community, the future leaders of our society.”

Named in honor of famed humanitarian and Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the Chicago Schweitzer Fellowship provides  graduate students from a wide variety of disciplines opportunities to  “make their lives their argument.”   Each Fellow will contribute at least 200 hours of direct service over the course of a year, and will receive a $2,000 annual stipend.   Fellows also meet monthly to share ideas and inspiration, and work together to organize community service days and publicly held symposia on pertinent issues affecting the health and well being of the underserved.  The program awards approximately 30 Fellowships annually.

“Promoting the service work and professional development of area students, the Fellowship immeasurably strengthens our community,” said Dr. Diane Kondratowicz, Coordinator of the Patient Centered Medicine Scholars Program at the UIC medical school.

The 2010-11 Chicago Area Schweitzer Fellows are:

Pauline Abrego, Adler School of Professional Psychology

Francois Blumenfeld-Kouchner, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine

Carmen Cancino, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine

Erin Cavanaugh, Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine

Meenadchi Chelvakumar, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine

Sarah Cordes, DePaul University, Department of Nursing

Courtney Driscoll, DePaul University, Department of Nursing

Kaori Ema, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Dentistry

John Ryan Hayes, Midwestern University, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine

Rene J. Herrera, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

Laura Hodges, The University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine

Ryan Hollon, University of Illinois at Chicago, Urban Planning Doctoral Program

Vivian Leung, Rush University, College of Medicine

Saria Lofton, Rush University, College of Nursing

Ifrah Magan, The University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration

Toussaint Mears-Clarke, The University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine

David Murray, Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine

Matthew Murphy, Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine

Nicole Oxendine, Columbia College Chicago, Dance Movement Therapy and Counseling

Adam Paberzs, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health

Shalonda F. W. Patterson, St. Xavier University, School of Nursing

Cherese Pullum, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Nursing Doctoral Program

Sangeetha Ravichandran, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, MA in Art Therapy

Brittlyn Riley, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, MA in Art Therapy

Sara Rosenthal, DePaul University, Department of Nursing

Scott Schwartz, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Dentistry

Alicia Stapleton, Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine

Mara Terras, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine

Chung (John) Won, Rosalind Franklin University, Chicago Medical School

Benson Wright, Rush University, College of Nursing

Melanie Younger, Loyola University Chicago, School of Law