As a way of fostering Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s legacy of healthcare for the underserved, The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship provides service opportunities and support for health professional students and students in health-related disciplines who seek to help those currently underserved by our health care system. The New Hampshire/Vermont Schweitzer Fellows Program, (NH/VT SFP) which began in 1996, is rooted in Dr. Schweitzer’s belief that there is a vast, untapped reservoir of idealism in our communities. This idealism, when nurtured and provided with specific opportunities for action, can become a powerful resource in helping underserved communities improve their health.

The New Hampshire/Vermont Schweitzer Fellows Program began in 1996 under the direction of Dr. Joseph O’Donnell. Each year, the Program selects approximately 25 graduate students to be Schweitzer Fellows from schools that include Antioch New England Graduate School, Dartmouth Medical School, Franklin Pierce Law School, the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, UVM College of Medicine, and Vermont Law School. Each Schweitzer Fellow is required to carry out a project of 200 hours that addresses the needs of underserved populations in the local community.

Fellows design their own projects and work with existing local community agencies. The projects must be sustainable after their Fellowship year ends. In addition to carrying out their projects, Fellows meet regularly to support each other in their work, produce symposia for the public and for their colleagues at the schools, and write a detailed final report at the end of the Program year. Fellows receive a stipend of $2,000.

Since its inception, the NH/VT SFP has supported over 170 Fellows who have provided approximately 34,000 hours of community service through local agencies. This program helps the professional schools and social service agencies work together. Fellows bring what they have learned back to their schools, enriching the curriculum and experience of their classmates. Above all, by providing students with opportunities for service at a formative stage of their career, the Program attempts to instill in them a lifelong commitment to leadership in public service.

IN THEIR WORDS...

“The biggest benefit of my Fellowship was the opportunity to provide a needed service in my community. I’ve learned my way around the local and national Search and Rescue community, a group I’ll be involved with throughout my career. This Fellowship has been the best experience in my first two years of medical school. Thank you!”  

   - Gillian Salton, NH/VT Schweitzer Fellow

“Now that I have finished my project, I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to continue in service, not for any Fellowship, but for my own sense of what is right. Now when I think about how to spend my vacations or what specialty to choose in medicine, I think about how I can serve others. I feel dedicated, like never before, towards a life of service.”  

   - Chris Jons, NH/VT Schweitzer Fellow

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Becky Torrey
Program Director
New Hampshire/Vermont Schweitzer Fellows Program
10 Sausville Road
Etna, NH 03750
T: (603) 643-1479
rebecca.b.torrey@dartmouth.edu