UIC Schweitzer fellows want to make the world a better place
L-R: Sarah Wagener, Iqra Mushtaq and Hannah Riley, students in the School of Public Health, are among nine UIC health sciences graduate students named Albert Schweitzer fellows.
Nine graduate students in the health sciences will work to make the world a better place next year as Albert Schweitzer fellows.
The students — from the School of Public Health, Jane Addams College of Social Work and the colleges of Nursing, Medicine, Dentistry and Applied Health Sciences — will work with Chicago-area community organizations to develop service projects that address health disparities in under-resourced communities.
The students, their projects and community groups are:
• Actress Bartlett, social work, American Friends Service Committee: SoBu (Social Business) Artist Project with college interns mentoring high school and middle school students to create and sell mosaic art, silk screen T-shirts and bags
• Darshana Bhattacharyya, medicine, Thresholds Young Mothers Project: bimonthly workshops on well-being, self-empowerment and disease management for young mothers and families affected by severe mental illness
• Nisha Garg, dentistry, Jesse Brown VA Medical Center: oral health classes for veterans
• Megan Gordon, nursing, Christopher House: childbirth education for pregnant teens for better birth outcomes
• Rachel Gottfredsen Gage, nursing, YMCA of Metro Chicago: health education classes for aging adults
• Elizabeth Harrison, occupational therapy, Heartland Alliance: community group for LGBT refugees and those who have come to the U.S. seeking asylum
• Iqra Mushtaq, public health, Heartland International Health Centers: heart disease risk-reduction workshops for refugee and immigrant South Asian women
• Hannah Riley, social work and public health, Health Justice Project: creating healthy homes for low-income tenants, avoiding environmental health dangers such as lead poisoning, mold and infestations
• Sarah Wagener, public health, Storycatchers Theatre Changing Voices: helping formerly incarcerated adolescents learn positive decisionmaking through musical theater writing and performing.
