Kiser first Schweitzer Fellow from WVU

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship has selected Jeffrey Kiser, a rising second-year student in the West Virginia University School of Medicine, as one of the Pittsburgh Schweitzer Fellows. Kiser is the first WVU student to be selected as a Schweitzer Fellow.

This year, Kiser will join approximately 240 other Schweitzer Fellows across the country in conceptualizing and carrying out service projects that address the social determinants of health.

“I don’t think I really understood how exciting the fellowship was. It was something that sounded really interesting and right up my alley because I planned on doing service for the rest of my life,” Kiser said. “I’m really excited to get to work with international students and many other great people from all different specialties.”

Kiser will establish a depression and anxiety prevention program for international students who attend WVU. His program will focus on building a sense of community among the school’s diverse international student population through cultural expression and communication skills development.

Founded in 1997, the Pittsburgh Schweitzer Fellows Program is one of 13 Schweitzer program sites across the U.S. Since the program’s inception, Schweitzer Fellows in Pittsburgh, competitively chosen from health-focused graduate student applicants in a variety of fields, have worked tirelessly to address health disparities and the social determinants of health throughout the greater Pittsburgh area.

Since 1997, more than 200 Schweitzer Fellows have provided more than 44,500 hours of service to Pittsburgh’s most vulnerable communities. Partnering with area community-based organizations, these Fellows have addressed a wide variety of unmet health needs by creating and carrying out year-long projects with direct service at their core.

For more information visit www.schweitzerfellowship.org/pittsburgh.