Program Overview

Introduction to the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship

The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship – Houston/Galveston is a non-profit organization housed at Baylor College of Medicine. It offers students the opportunity to design and implement a health-related community project that provides direct service to an underserved population.

Program Overview

Students are paired with mentors, field experts, and community sites to meet vital local health needs, with an immediate and lasting impact in the Houston-Galveston area. Since 2008, nearly 100 Albert Schweitzer Fellows in Houston-Galveston have completed projects in areas such as:

• HIV/AIDS care
• Homeless support
• Oral health
• Nutrition
• Refugee health
• Mental health awareness
• Mobile health clinics
• Smartphone health apps
• Family and teen support groups
• Healthcare education

Fellow Projects

The four Baylor students who recently joined this prestigious group and their projects are:

Weijie Lin

Fellow Weijie Lin is creating an online map and web resource that compiles information on health resources for refugees new to the Houston area. The map will contain a search option (by language, gender, insurance, specialty), which will allow case workers and refugees to search for the most relevant clinics and resources and access services immediately.

Kelsey Stewart

Fellow Kelsey Stewart's project focuses on delivering mental health education and skills to adult women from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are disproportionately affected by mental illness. Her education project utilizes positive psychology, an emerging health science of well-being, to teach concepts and cultivate skills for maintaining mental health such as mindfulness, gratitude, coping skills, and personal strengths.

Sohini Bandy and Beth Cook

Fellows Sohini Bandy and Beth Cook are partnering to address sexual health in a community of women who have been recently released from prison. They plan to develop a class series at Angela House, a transitional residence for women released from prison in Houston and the surrounding area, that focuses on understanding sexuality and exploring the dynamics of healthy relationships.

Leadership and Sponsorship

The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship – Houston/Galveston is under the leadership of Executive Director Dr. Gabrielle Hansen. The program is sponsored by Houston Endowment, the Frees Foundation, the Simmons Foundation, the Stanford and Joan Alexander Foundation, the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation, Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, UT Health, UT Medical Branch at Galveston, and the University of Houston, as well as many individual donors.