Graduate students address health disparities throughout North Carolina

The N.C. Albert Schweitzer Fellowship (NCASF) has announced the selection of its 2026-27 class of Schweitzer Fellows and welcomed Campbell University as a new university partner.

Thirty-one graduate students from medicine, dentistry, social work, occupational therapy and environmental sciences and engineering will spend the next year developing the skills and community relationships needed to address the social factors that drive health disparities - while building a foundation for lifelong leadership, a NCASF news release says.

"Schweitzer Fellows are not given a project or told to address a specific health need," said Barbara Heffner, executive director of the N.C. Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. "They follow their passion and the needs of the community to develop innovative approaches which fill gaps in our health care system."

The Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine joins NCASF this year as the new university partner, the release says.

Representing Campbell as its inaugural Schweitzer Fellows, student Drs. Michaela Brown and Jessica King, are partnering with the Harnett County Health Department to lead prenatal education classes - helping pregnant patients build health literacy and connect with the prenatal services available to them locally, the release says.

(Read more about Michaela Brown and Jessica King and their work here.)

Their project is a fitting debut for a university whose values align closely with the Fellowship's mission, according to the news release.

Fellows design and implement service projects that target the root causes of health disparities in under-resourced communities, all while meeting their academic obligations. Each project is carried out in partnership with a community-based organization.

This year's class will lead free clinics offering oral health care, root canal services, dentures and eye health screenings; provide street medicine and wound care; support laboring mothers and prenatal education; lead gardening and nutrition programs for seniors; and address farmworker health, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), environmental justice and youth mental health.

Fellows will also develop toothbrushing programs for elementary students and oral health education for children with autism. Projects will launch in communities across the state.

The Fellowship's intensive leadership component pairs Fellows with both community and academic mentors throughout the year. Many go on to serve as role models for their peers, inspiring the next generation of professionals to improve care for those who face the greatest barriers to accessing it.

NCASF is supported by the generosity of BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina Foundation, Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine (new partner), Duke University AHEC, Duke Interprofessional Education, ECU Brody School of Medicine, ECU Health, ECU School of Dental Medicine, North Carolina AHEC, North Carolina Central University School of Graduate Studies, UNC Adams School of Dentistry, UNC School of Medicine, UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, and individual donors.

Founded in 1994 as a local chapter of the national nonprofit Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, NCASF has trained more than 696 health care leaders over the past three decades, the release says.

Nationally, the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship has engaged more than 5,000 Fellows across eight additional program locations - Alabama, Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Houston, New Hampshire/Vermont, San Francisco Bay Area, and Tulsa - selecting more than 200 Fellows each year who serve under-resourced communities and shape health care policy and practice.

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