Three Northwestern graduate students received Schweitzer Fellowships to implement innovative programs that help underprivileged communities in Chicago.

Two of the fellows, Birtukan Belew and Janet Lee, are in the Feinberg School of Medicine. John Leahey, from the School of Continuing Studies, is the first student studying public policy to win the award, said Ray Wang, program director of the Chicago Area Schweitzer Fellows Program.

Thirty-one students representing 23 different university programs were selected for the program. Schweitzer Fellows is a service learning program created in 1996 for graduate students in health and public service fields.

Each fellow designs and directs a year-long project to improve access to health care for individuals and communities in Chicago that lack such access, including immigrant communities, the homeless, the uninsured, minorities and the working poor.

“They are all very exceptional students,” Wang said. “We had a very large number of applicants this year, and out of 100 applicants we chose 31 fellows, and they are thought to be very bright and very committed individuals.”

Lee’s project will involve implementing a health care resource for an American Indian community and recruiting American Indian laypeople to inform others in their group about healthy living.

Leahy’s project will involve introducing immigrant communities to healthy living through sports activities, and he will also look into other health problems, such as diabetes and asthma, and ways to prevent these problems.

Belew plans to implement Type II diabetes prevention programs for adolescents. Her program will include aspects of classroom education as well as planned surprise exercises, she said.

“It’s very gratifying from my end to see the kind of creative projects and diverse neighborhoods being served,” Wang said. “They don’t just have to come up with beautiful ideas, but they also have to meet reality and do what it takes to make these projects really blossom.”

– Corinne Lestch