The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship (ASF) announced the selection of its inaugural class of Detroit Schweitzer Fellows. Jonathan Chan, OUWB class of 2019, is one of four graduate students in Michigan who will spend the next year learning to effectively address the social factors that impact health, and developing lifelong leadership skills. In doing so, he will follow the example set by famed physician-humanitarian Albert Schweitzer, for whom their Fellowship is named.
Chan’s project will address the stressful environment within the educational environment for both students and teachers. He will incorporate the principles and practice of mindfulness to enhance the educational process and improve job satisfaction for educators. The project will measure the ability of mindfulness to increase the physical, mental, and social health and well being of teachers and students, thereby enhancing their awareness of themselves and their health, as well as their ability to contribute to a positive school environment. Chan has selected two middle schools and will work in concert with the 2019 Michigan Collaborative for Mindfulness Education.
“The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship excels in developing emerging leaders in health who will serve vulnerable populations not just in their Fellowship year, but throughout their career,” said Bruce Auerbach, M.D., chairman of The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Board of Directors. “Our new program in Detroit will make important and vital contributions that will create positive change and improve the lives of people in Detroit and the surrounding area.”
Schweitzer Fellows are graduate students in health care, social work, law, education and other fields who design and implement year-long service projects that address the root causes of health disparities in under-resourced communities, while also fulfilling their academic responsibilities.
The process of moving their Fellowship projects from an initial concept to completion teaches Schweitzer Fellows valuable skills in collaborating with others in allied fields. As Schweitzer Fellows develop professionally, this skill is critical to their ability to affect larger-scale change among vulnerable populations.
Schweitzer Fellows who have successfully completed their year-long service project are called Fellows for Life. Some of ASF’s Fellows for Life include Rishi Manchanda, M.D., author of the TED book The Upstream Doctors: Medical Innovators Track Sickness To Its Source; Jessica Lahey, J.D., author of the bestseller The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn To Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed, and who writes regularly about education and parenting issues for the New York Times and The Atlantic; and Robert Satcher, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, Anderson Cancer Center and NASA mission specialist.
