NUHS DC student Rameda Lee awarded Schweitzer Fellowship
Thursday, May 14, 2020

Rameda Lee, an NUHS chiropractic student, was recently awarded
the prestigious Albert Schweitzer Fellowship for her
proposal of a stewardship themed, bi-monthly seminar focusing on
caring for one's body as the first possession ever received.
"I was both very excited and very humbled," Lee said.
The Chicago Area Schweitzer Fellows
Program is a one-year interdisciplinary,
mentored fellowship program that fosters the leadership
abilities of aspiring health professionals who design and implement
projects to improve the health and well-being of underserved
Chicago communities. As part of a competitive application process,
only about 30 students are chosen to become fellows for the program
each year.
Lee is the second chiropractic student to be awarded the
scholarship after NUHS faculty member
Dana Madigan, DC, MPH, who was also an NUHS student at the time
in 2012. Lee expressed gratitude to faculty member Nakiesha
Pearson, DC, ND, MS, for introducing her to the fellowship
opportunity and Dr. Madigan for mentoring her through the
application process.
One of the main goals of Lee's proposed seminars was to
emphasize prioritizing intention in regards to wellness. Each
seminar would share basic health-related information and help
instill confidence in advocating for self-care choices.
Additionally, each participant would set monthly goals implementing
the health care resources he/she learned about.
Lee said inspiration for the project came from a very personal
goal to help her community dispel myths about pathologies.
"All too often, people from various backgrounds, but
particularly in the African American community, are not as informed
when it comes to understanding reasonable measures that can lead to
their best health," Lee said. "With many prevalent conditions (i.e.
Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease), there are
well-documented actions that can lead to better health outcomes.
This project is designed to help people gain this knowledge, along
with the confidence to employ informed goal setting that
facilitates effective rapport with health care and other
professionals."
In the current public health climate of COVID-19, Lee added that
this project is particularly important since the target demographic
of her project (African Americans 30-60 years old) have been
disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
"If this project can help provide information, particularly
information on access to resources that could favorably influence
the rate of prevalence of these conditions in a community,
hopefully, that community can be better prepared not only for the
next public health crisis, but for having a lifestyle in which
pursuing the best health and health outcomes becomes
fundamental."
The project was originally designed to be a series of
face-to-face seminars. Due to the current circumstances, Lee plans
to establish and launch a virtual version of her proposal in August
and continue through at least mid-2021.
Lee also attributed her success to her time at NUHS.
"NUHS has not only laid an academic foundation for being able to
understand and relay information and identify resources regarding
various health topics, but through course work and club memberships
participation, I developed presentations and activities that were
shared with groups on campus." she said. "This, along with my
outside community service experience, has provided beneficial
training that prepared me for this fellowship opportunity."