NUHS News
NUHS DC Student Rameda Lee Awarded Schweitzer
Fellowship
Rameda Lee, an NUHS chiropractic student, was recently awarded the prestigious Albert
Schweitzer Fellowship for her proposal of a stewardship themed, bi-monthly seminar focusing
on caring for one’s body as the first possession ever received.
“I was both very excited and very humbled,” Lee said.
The Chicago Area Schweitzer Fellows Program is a one-year interdisciplinary, mentored
fellowship program that fosters the leadership abilities of aspiring health professionals who
design and implement projects to improve the health and well-being of underserved Chicago
communities. As part of a competitive application process, only about 30 students are chosen
to become fellows for the program each year.
Lee is the second chiropractic student to be awarded the scholarship after NUHS faculty
member Dana Madigan, DC, MPH, who was also an NUHS student at the time in 2012. Lee
expressed gratitude to faculty member Nakiesha Pearson, DC, ND, MS, for introducing her to the fellowship opportunity and
Dr. Madigan for mentoring her through the application process.
One of the main goals of Lee’s proposed seminars was to emphasize prioritizing intention in regard to wellness. Each seminar
would share basic health-related information and help instill confidence in advocating for self-care choices. Additionally, each
participant would set monthly goals implementing the health care resources he/she learned about.
“All too often, people from various backgrounds, but particularly in the African-American community, are not as informed
when it comes to understanding reasonable measures that can lead to their best health,” Lee said. “With many prevalent
conditions (i.e. Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease), there are well-documented actions that can lead to
better health outcomes. This project is designed to help people gain this knowledge, along with the confidence to employ
informed goal setting that facilitates effective rapport with health care and other professionals.”
In the current public health climate of COVID-19, Lee added that this project is particularly important since the target
demographic of her project (African Americans 30-60 years old) have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
The project was originally designed to be a series of face-to-face seminars. Due to the current circumstances, Lee plans to
establish and launch a virtual version of her proposal in August and continue through at least mid-2021.
“NUHS has not only laid an academic foundation for being able to understand and relay information and identify resources
regarding various health topics, but through course work and club memberships participation, I developed presentations and
activities that were shared with groups on campus.” she said. “This, along with my outside community service experience, has
provided beneficial training that prepared me for this fellowship opportunity.”
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