Schweitzer Fellow Greta Joos, '27, provides foot care to a participant at an unhoused shelter in Burlington, Vermont. (Photo: David Seaver)

Five teams of UVM Larner College of Medicine Class of 2027 medical students, along with five teams from Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, and Vermont Law and Graduate School, have been selected to participate as 2024–25 Schweitzer Fellows through the New Hampshire/Vermont (NH/VT) Schweitzer Fellows Program. As fellows, the students will spend hundreds of hours over the next year completing projects with community partners that focus on addressing existing health disparities throughout the region.

Founded in 1996, the NH/VT Schweitzer Fellows Program is one of 13 currently active Albert Schweitzer Fellowship (ASF) program sites across the U.S. dedicated to developing a pipeline of emerging professionals who enter the workforce with the skills and commitment necessary to address unmet health needs. NH/VT Schweitzer Fellows are chosen competitively from graduate health professional and law student applicants enrolled at institutions in New Hampshire and Vermont. To date, more than 350 Schweitzer Fellows have provided over 50,000 hours of service to New Hampshire and Vermont’s most under-resourced communities.

The following Larner Class of 2027 members and projects were selected for 2024–25:

Claire Baptiste and Hamza Mirza

Baptiste and Mirza are working to improve blood pressure management for Jamaican farmworkers in Vermont. After initial blood pressure screenings, the students are organizing community conversation circles to understand treatment approaches used by this population and to facilitate access to follow-up care. Their efforts aim to enhance treatment adherence and overall health outcomes in this migrant population. Community Partner: Bridges to Health

Cliff Bauman and Julia Hurley

Bauman and Hurley are developing methods of tracking individuals’ progress in addiction treatment longitudinally, their recovery successes, and referrals to treatment programs. They will collaborate with the Turning Point Center Outreach Recovery program to help provide low barrier addiction coaching and support to individuals and families in Vermont. Community Partner: Turning Point Center of Chittenden County

Benjamin Koren and Alison Chivers

Koren and Chivers aim to address the disproportionate and increasing incidence of type 2 diabetes among Vermont’s migrant farmworkers. In collaboration with partners at the Open Door Clinic and from within the migrant farmworker community, they plan to give community members the knowledge necessary to take charge of their metabolic health while also fostering conversations about how to do so in ways that stay true to migrants’ cultural values. Community Partner: Open Door Clinic 

Eunice Suberu and Sulekha Kilas

Suberu and Kilas aim to make a meaningful impact on preschoolers from refugee and newly immigrated families through a social-emotional learning program. Their project integrates age-appropriate teaching methods that provide children with tools to express themselves, regulate their emotions, and expand their emotional vocabulary. They plan to utilize play, narration, observation, reading, and art to foster positive emotional development. Community Partner: The Janet S. Munt Family Room

Greta Joos and Naomi Burhans

Joos and Burhans aim to organize foot care clinics in shelters for the unhoused in Burlington to forge connections and improve foot health through foot baths, callus removal, and distribution of nail clippers and socks. They also plan to collaborate with Community Health Centers of Burlington to promote health literacy and health care accessibility for unhoused community members. Community Partner: Champlain Place