ECU students receive Schweitzer Fellowships

Six students from East Carolina University have received Schweitzer Fellowships for 2012-13.

The students commit to a year of service with a community agency, devoting more than 600 hours to local communities lacking access to adequate health services.

Below are the students’ names and their service projects:

From left, ECU medical and dental students Nikita Goel, Holland Killian, Amanda Stroud, Shannon Holcomb, Christin Carter and Parteek Singla are N.C. Schweitzer Fellows for 2012-2013. Photo by Cliff Hollis

• Christin Carter and Shannon Holcomb of the ECU School of Dental Medicine are Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation of North Carolina Schweitzer Fellows. Carter and Holcomb will conduct preventive oral health education, sign patients up for Medicaid and work with them to help establish a dental home. They will work at the Bernstein Community Health Center, Grimesland Clinic and Greenville Community Shelters.
• Holland Killian and Amanda Stroud of the ECU School of Dental Medicine are Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation of North Carolina Schweitzer Fellows. They will conduct a preventive oral health education program for students in pre-kindergarten through second grade. They will work at the Boys and Girls Club of Pitt County and local More-At-Four program sites.
• Nikita Goel of the Brody School of Medicine at ECU will work to promote emotional and physical health for elementary-aged girls by teaching cultural dance, nutrition and self-awareness at the Little Willie Center in Greenville.
• Parteek Singla of the Brody School of Medicine at ECU will conduct a health education and arts after-school program for middle-school youth at the Building Hope Community Life Center in Greenville.

The ECU Schweitzer Fellows are also supported by grants from Vidant Medical Group, a part of Vidant Health.

Twenty-three other graduate students from professional schools in North Carolina also received fellowships. Schweitzer Fellows continue their education while participating in the entry year of the Schweitzer Fellows Program.

The first U.S.-based Schweitzer Fellows Program was founded in Boston in 1991, and the second was in North Carolina in 1994. Other programs are in Baltimore, Chicago, New Hampshire/Vermont, Pittsburgh, the Delaware Valley and San Francisco. Nearly 270 North Carolina Schweitzer Fellows have completed the program.

More information about the Schweitzer Fellowship program is available at http://www.schweitzerfellowship.org.