After a competitive selection process, two Tulane University students, Caitlin Boyle from the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and Althea Alquitran from the School of Medicine, have been named as Albert Schweitzer Fellows along with four other local graduate students. The Fellows will be charged with improving the health of people most in need across New Orleans.
During the coming year, each Fellow will plan and carry out a service project that addresses health inequities while developing lifelong leadership skills. “As the coronavirus pandemic stretches on, this cohort of Fellows will play a key role in reinforcing the capacity of local safety-net providers,” said Chelsey Leruth, the Schweitzer Fellowship program director. “We train our Fellows to be creative in responding to community needs, and these bright and hard-working student leaders are quickly stepping up.”
The two new Fellows from Tulane are epidemiology graduate student Caitlin Boyle, who will offer education on contraception at Odyssey House, and medical student Althea Alquitran, who will develop the New Orleans Lotus Project to foster emotional resilience among youth at Anna’s Place.
The 2020 Fellows join the ranks of over 4,000 Schweitzer alumni across the United States, known as “Fellows for Life,” who are committed to creating systemic change in health care and human services. By combining leadership development, mentoring, and training in community health program development, the Fellowship prepares students to be lifelong leaders in service. “I hope the Fellowship will continue to push me to grow and dedicate myself to the things that I believe in,” said Alquitran.
The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship – New Orleans is a non-profit organization dedicated to developing a corps of emerging professionals who enter the workforce with the skills and commitment necessary to address unmet health needs. For more information, visit www.asfnola.org.