Texas Woman's student named Schweitzer Fellow

Roselyn Cedeno Davila, a Texas Woman’s University master’s student in health studies from Dallas, will spend the next year learning to effectively address the social factors that impact health after being awarded a fellowship with the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the prestigious Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Program.

Cedeno Davila will develop a program called “Speak Health!” with a community partner in Dallas. The program aims to educate women on various issues related to their health, as well as healthy relationship building. Ultimately, Cedeno Davila hopes her program will help the women take a more active role in their health and become more comfortable with discussing their health and experiences with others.

“As the nation’s largest public university primarily for women, we applaud Roselyn for her efforts in developing this program,” said Holly Hansen-Thomas, Ph.D., interim dean of the TWU Graduate School. “It is a much needed and highly valuable endeavor.”

Cedeno Davila will join 11 other Dallas-Fort Worth Schweitzer Fellows as they develop and implement service projects that address the root causes of health disparities in under-resourced communities, while also fulfilling their academic responsibilities. Each project is implemented in collaboration with a community-based health and/or social service organization.

“The Schweitzer Fellowship allows the Fellows to not only learn how to innovate and lead, but also gives them the opportunity to learn from the community they work with as well as the rest of the Fellows in their cohort,” said Courtney Roy, program director of the Dallas-Fort Worth Schweitzer Fellowship. “These students will have the chance to create positive change with the people they serve through their Fellowship projects.”

The 12 Dallas-Fort Worth Fellows will join approximately 240 other 2017-18 Schweitzer Fellows working at 14 program sites around the United States, as well as one in Lambaréné, Gabon at the site of The Albert Schweitzer Hospital, founded by Dr. Schweitzer in 1913. Upon completion of their Fellowship year, the 2017-18 Dallas-Fort Worth Albert Schweitzer Fellows will become Schweitzer Fellows for Life and join a vibrant network of more than 3,400 Schweitzer alumni who are skilled in, and committed to, addressing the health needs of underserved people throughout their careers.

The Dallas-Fort Worth Albert Schweitzer Fellows Program marks a unique collaboration between eight Dallas-Fort Worth universities. Housed at Southern Methodist University, supporting universities include the Baylor University’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing, Texas Christian University, Texas Woman’s University, the University of Dallas, University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Texas at Dallas, and the UT Southwestern Medical Center.