2024-2025 Cohort
Cameron Myers
Cameron Myers is addressing mental health in teens and young adults who identify as LGBTQ+ by establishing a weekly mental wellness community event. Young people attending will be given opportunities to work on social interaction, creativity workshops, future planning, coping mechanisms, exploring healthy relationships, building resilience, and discussing issues in their own lives. Ultimately the program will work to not only build self-esteem and coping skills by building friendships and support systems.
Community Partner: New Orleans Pride Center
Mack Guillory, III
Tulane University School of Medicine
Originally from Lake Charles, LA, Mack Guillory is currently a second year MD/MPH (International Health and Sustainable Development) student at Tulane School of Medicine and Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health Tropical Medicine.
Mack Guillory is addressing adolescent mental health in New Orleans by piloting a relationship-skill building support group that empowers young adults living with schizophrenia/schizophrenia-spectrum disorders to develop healthy intimate relationships. In collaboration with the Early Psychosis Intervention Clinic (EPIC-NOLA), Guillory will provide weekly peer support meetings using evidence – based curriculum on intimate relationships to address stigma and improve social cognition of young adults living with severe mental illness.
Community Partner: EPIC-NOLA
Preston Tsang
Tulane University School of Medicine
Preston is a fourth-year medical student enrolled in the dual MD/MPH program at Tulane University pursuing a career in general surgery. He was born in New Orleans, and grew up in California. He went to Purdue University where he studied biomedical engineering. He is interested in the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship to apply his medical to a holistic nutritional program for the city he cares so much about. In his downtime he enjoys biking on the levy and sharing meals with his friends.
Aaron and Preston’s partner project hopes to add medical insight to their after-school cooking classes, teaching at-risk students valuable cooking skills, nutrition, and food safety. Through hands-on learning, their goal is to grow children’s confidence and inspire them to make sustainable and healthier food choices.
Community Partner: Son of a Saint
Aaron Albuck
Tulane University School of Medicine
Aaron is a fourth-year medical student at Tulane University pursuing a career in general surgery. He is originally from the Philadelphia area, although has lived in New Orleans for nine years. He is interested in the Schweitzer Fellowship to utilize his medical knowledge to give back to the community which has raised him.
Aaron and Preston’s partner project hopes to add medical insight to their after-school cooking classes, teaching at-risk students valuable cooking skills, nutrition, and food safety. Through hands-on learning, their goal is to grow children’s confidence and inspire them to make sustainable and healthier food choices.
Community Partner: Son of a Saint
Alaa Malik
LSU Health School of Medicine
Alaa Malik is a 4th year medical student at LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans. As a New Orleans native, she is excited to serve as an Albert Schweitzer Fellow and be able to continue serving her community. Our project, Ta’leem (Education) for All, is aimed at increasing access to higher education through providing free ACT classes, college application workshops, and medical school application workshops for first generation and students in Orleans parish. As an aspiring ophthalmologist, mentorship has played a pivotal role in her journey thus far, and she’s excited to pay it forward in her community.
Community Partners: Community organizations serving college and medical school aspirants
Manal Malik
Tulane University School of Medicine
Manal Malik is a third-year medical student at Tulane University and a proud New Orleans native. Having completed high school, undergraduate studies, and now medical school in her beloved hometown, Manal has a deep-rooted connection to the city and its people. Her passion for education and healthcare fuels her commitment to strengthening the New Orleans community.
To give back to the city that shaped her, Manal co-founded T’aleem for All with her sister Alaa, an initiative focused on promoting educational advancement within the community. Through this program, they offer free ACT preparation courses, college application workshops, and medical school application guidance. Manal’s vision is to empower local students to pursue higher education, bridging the gap for underserved populations and ensuring access to the resources needed for academic success.
Driven by the belief that education is a powerful tool for community upliftment, Manal works tirelessly to inspire the next generation of leaders and healthcare professionals in New Orleans.
Community Partners: Community organizations serving college and medical school aspirants
2023-2024
Faradia Kernizan
Tulane University School of Medicine
Faradia is addressing the lack of skin health education that is geared toward people of color in
the Greater New Orleans area. The program does so by providing patient education about
conditions that primarily affect people of color during community events in New Orleans, and
information about providers who treat those conditions in the New Orleans area. The program
came about when Faradia learned that rates of a rare skin cancer, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma,
have been on the rise in Louisiana. She also knew that there is a lack of skin health education
curricula geared toward skin of color. Learning these statistics and conditions in medical school
inspired her to create a skin education curriculum that is geared toward teaching communities of
color skin conditions that affect them.
Shahmeer Hashmat
Tulane University School of Medicine
2022-2023 Cohort
Shakira Harding (she/her)
LSUHSC, School of Medicine
Shakira is addressing issues in hesitancy around health seeking behavior for female survivors of sexual trauma in the GNO by developing and implementing provider and public education programs. The program will incorporate a standardized curriculum in hopes of fostering greater accessible healthcare that is sensitive to the needs of survivors of sexual trauma.
Community Partner: Sexual Trauma Awareness and Response (STAR)
Alexis Hernandez
LSUHSC, School of Medicine
Alexis is addressing the high rates of unplanned pregnancy and adverse outcomes associated with drug-exposed pregnancies by developing birth control education and navigation services for reproductive-aged people with uteruses who are receiving inpatient and intensive outpatient addiction treatment in New Orleans, La. The project aims to increase knowledge, positive attitudes, and access to birth control with a special emphasis on long-acting reversible contraception. In addition to providing birth control education and navigation, Alexis will employ a training of trainers (ToT) model to empower project participants to encourage contraceptive use amongst their own communities.
Community Partners: Odyssey House and Crescent Care
Shivani Jain
LSUHSC, School of Medicine
Shivani is addressing disparities in educational and medical resource access for the deaf-blind pediatric and young adult community of New Orleans by conducting advocacy training sessions with primary caretakers and creating interactive tools that streamline resources. The program aims to foster greater levels of societal awareness, individual agency, and community support.
Community Partner: LA DeafBlind Project for Children and Youth
Dana Karkoutli (she/her)
LSUHSC, School of Dentistry
Dana & Jyoti are addressing oral health in the special needs community of the Greater New Orleans area by educating children and their caretakers on oral health by promoting proper dental hygiene habits. The program incorporates multi-specialty care clinics and will involve distribution of pamphlets and dental hygiene kits to promote the application of dental education long-term and foster positive attitudes towards going to the dentist.
Community Partner:Autism Society of Greater New Orleans
Jyoti Prajapati (she/her)
LSUHSC, School of Dentistry
Rose Vilcin (she/her)
Xavier University of Louisiana, College of Pharmacy
Rose and Charlé are addressing the mental health crisis of Black people living in New Orleans that has been exacerbated by continual climate disasters, coronavirus pandemic, and systemic racism by establishing the College of Pharmacy Institute for Nurturing Growth (COPING) in partnership with the Xavier University Counseling & Wellness Center. COPING will provide an informative and inspiring curriculum to facilitate change in Black communities such as a self-care incentive program, mental health workshops, health fairs, live journaling and meditation events, physical activities, and a mental health resource physical and digital aggregate centered on three evidence-based target areas to improve Black mental health: 1) destigmatization, 2) self-care, and 3) suicide prevention.
Community Partner: Xavier University of Louisiana Counseling and Wellness Center
Charlé Washington (she/her)
Xavier University of Louisiana, College of Pharmacy
2021-2022 Cohort
Jonathan Allotey
Tulane University School of Medicine and School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Jonathan and Marcus are addressing prostate cancer disparities among Black men in New Orleans by developing a health literacy program focusing on the benefits of prostate cancer screening measures such as prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and germline testing for hereditary prostate cancer. In addition to providing educational workshops on prostate cancer screening measures, the program plans to partner with the Tulane Cancer Center to provide PSA screenings to Black men in New Orleans.
Community Partner: New Orleans East Louisiana Community Health Center (NOELA)
Marcus Moses
Tulane University School of Medicine
Will Boles
LSUHSC School of Medicine
Lauren and Will are addressing the social and psychological needs of justice-involved women by establishing a peer support group curriculum for justice-involved women. This program will offer a space for women to learn from each other and heal from previous traumas through discussion via a curriculum written by Ms. Dolfinettte Martin, a community leader for justice-involved women and girls.
Community Partners: Southern Women with Amazing Purpose and Operation Restoration
Lauren Nguyen
Tulane University School of Medicine and School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Jynx Frederick
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Jynx is addressing out-of-hospital Citizen CPR hesitation; an issue that disproportionately affects women and can wield the poorest outcomes for women of color, and other vulnerable individuals with a high-risk of cardiac arrest as a result of gender bias, racial bias, and COVID-19 transmission anxiety. Jynx seeks to establish a “Bias in CPR” awareness program to incorporate into CPR training for non-healthcare professionals throughout the New Orleans area through the use of awareness education materials and bias awareness training that address existing gender and racial biases in bystander CPR administration, as a well as an educational component adapted to address COVID-19 transmission anxiety that could result in CPR hesitancy among providers of out-of-hospital citizen CPR.
Community Partner: Heartbeat NOLA
Lisa Kam
LSUHSC School of Public Health
Lisa is addressing relationship abuse among adolescents in New Orleans by implementing the Safe Dates Program. A prevention-focused project, the program will incorporate an evidence-based curriculum for teens to identify red flags in relationships, avoid coercive situations, and foster awareness of internet abuse following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Grant Rauterkus
Tulane University School of Medicine
Grant is addressing determinants of healthy aging by connecting older adults in New Orleans to free, personalized communication solutions. In so doing, the project aims to promote social participation, and mitigate the myriad health risks associated with untreated hearing loss.
Community Partner: New Orleans People Program
2020-2021 Cohort
Althea Alquitran
Tulane University School of Medicine
Community Partner: Anna’s Place NOLA
Caroline Baer
Xavier University of Louisiana College of Pharmacy
Community Partners: Louisiana Hospitality Foundation and various local restaurants
Samah Hammad
Xavier University of Louisiana College of Pharmacy
LSUHSC School of Medicine and School of Public Health
Community Partners: Heart N Hands and John L. Ohry Communication Arts Magnet School
Caitlin Boyle
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Community Partner: Odyssey House
2019-2020 Cohort
Ha'reanna Campbell
Xavier University College of Pharmacy
Ha'reanna is addressing substance use and abuse among adolescents in New Orleans by establishing an educational intervention and prevention program in the local community. Adolescents will engage in activities fostered around the understanding of the harmful effects of substance use, in addition to learning drug refusal and coping skills to enhance their mental health. The program will also incorporate parent education on substance misuse and abuse, and the biological, psychological, and/or social risk factors of mental health. Ultimately, the program will aim not only to foster positive attitudes and behaviors related to substance use, but also to build strong parent-children relationships. Click Ha'reanna's picture to watch a brief video about her project.
Community Site: Hahnville High School
Valentina Carrillo
Louisiana State University, School of Dentistry
Valentina is addressing oral health in the Hispanic community of New Orleans by educating the patients of Luke’s House and directing them to practices and organizations in the city that best fit their dental, language, and financial needs. In addition to educating about brushing habits, dental plaque, and flossing, this program will provide dental supplies for patients. The program will additionally ease the language barrier for patients receiving treatment at the LSU School of Dentistry. Click Valentina's picture to watch a brief video about her project.
Community Site: Luke’s House Clinic
Nicole Dominique
Louisiana State University, School of Medicine and School of Public Health
Nicole is addressing homeless individuals’ mental wellbeing in New Orleans by training medical students to provide community resource guides to the patients at free student-run health clinics operated through local homeless shelters. By providing a durable and concise guide of local resources, medical students will broaden their services to the shelter residents to also include active plans about resources that individuals can utilize. After receiving these guides, homeless individuals will be more aware of resources in the New Orleans community and be better able to utilize them. Click Nicole's picture to watch a brief video about her project.
Community Site: Ozanam Inn
Emily Fiore
Tulane University, School of Medicine and School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Emily is addressing negative health outcomes among people who inject drugs (PWID) in New Orleans by establishing a mobile wound care and primary care referral service. In partnership with Trystereo, a syringe access and harm reduction coalition, the project will include organization and distribution of DIY wound care kits and development of locally-specific harm-reduction resources. Trystereo coalition members will also receive training on the wound care kits to extend the reach and sustainability of the project. Click Emily's picture to watch a brief video about her project.
Community Site: Trystereo
Nikka Khorsandi
Louisiana State University, School of Medicine and School of Public Health
Nikka is addressing barriers to access to care faced by low-income individuals in the Greater New Orleans area by creating a consumer advisory council. This council will consist of people who access care at local community health centers (CHCs) and represent populations of patients served by CHCs. This council will identify barriers to access as well help to develop strategies to reduce these barriers. In addition, general patient advocacy training will be developed to be used at community events to educate community members on how to advocate for their own medical needs. Click Nikka's picture to watch a brief video about his project. Community Site: 504HealthNet
Katelyn Wren
Xavier University, College of Pharmacy
Jessica and Katelyn are addressing adolescent mental health in New Orleans by developing a comprehensive mental health education program for high school aged students in New Orleans charter schools. In addition to putting students in contact with mental health care providers, the program will teach students both how to take care of their own mental health and how to better relate to others struggling with mental and behavioral health problems. This program aims to reduce the stigma associated with mental health, ultimately increasing the social support within schools and the availability and usage of mental health services. Click Jessica or Katelyn's picture to watch a brief video about their project.
Community Site: New Orleans area charter high school
Alexandria Van Dall
Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Alexandria proposes to host a positive parenting course for incarcerated parents in Orleans Parish. Participants will receive instruction on child development, approaches to bonding, healthy communication, and other topics tailored for them specifically. Click Alexandria's picture to watch a brief video about her project.
Community Site: Orleans Justice Center
Previous Years – Coming Soon!