Congratulations to Abby Bell for being selected for the 2025-26 class of Albert Schweitzer Fellows. This year's cohort, representing Auburn University, Samford University, the University of Montevallo, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), includes professionals from a diverse range of health disciplines such as counseling, dentistry, medicine, nursing, optometry, pharmacy, public health, health behavior, environmental health sciences, audiology, and nutrition sciences. This group of 22 fellows is the largest in the history of the organization. The duration of the fellowship is February 2025 to May 2026.
"We are excited to welcome this class of Schweitzer Fellows dedicated to service, health equity, and leadership," said Kimberly Eaton, Executive Director of ASF of Alabama. "These future leaders will address critical health challenges and demonstrate that learning and service go hand in hand. We look forward to seeing their impact as they work to create lasting change."
Auburn native, Abby Bell, graduated in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Auburn University, and is currently enrolled in the master’s program seeking a family nurse practitioner degree at AUCON. When one of the graduate faculty encouraged her to apply for the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, Bell was excited and honored to have been selected for the award. She will receive guidance from her academic mentor, Dr. Linda Gibson-Young, as well as from the community site mentor, Dr. Amy Pridemore.
“The Fellowship will provide me an opportunity to apply key concepts from my graduate studies such as, identifying social determinants of health and locating high-quality evidence to drive interventions and recommendations, and to advocate for the needs of my community,” Bell said. “The Fellowship provides valuable resources and mentoring for project development and community engagement, enabling me to contribute to improving maternal and infant health outcomes and positively impacting the community.”
Eligibility for the fellowship included, being enrolled in a graduate program for the academic year, identifying a community need, creating a project plan, and selecting a community partner to execute the project. Her focus is on promoting breastfeeding in Alabama, particularly among African American women. She aims to enhance her understanding of project development and implementation as an Albert Schweitzer Fellow.
Through literature reviews in her graduate courses, Bell discovered that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Kaiser Family Foundation revealing that breastfeeding rates among African American women in Alabama was significantly below the national average. “Beyond infant health, there is significant data that breastfeeding also lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, breast and ovarian cancers, and cardiovascular disease for mothers; and African American women are at a higher risk of developing these conditions,” states Bell
She will spend time with African American women in the community to explore various perspectives surrounding breastfeeding and factors influencing the decision whether or not to breastfeed. Her goal is to develop a curriculum that resonates with African American women, address cultural factors, as well as provide education regarding the protective health benefits of breastfeeding for both mother and child. “I will be providing opportunities for African American women, either pregnant or breastfeeding, to receive peer support, education, and ask questions at meetings taking place in AUCON’s rural health clinics at Chambers County Health and Wellness Center and Boykin Community Health Center,” Bell said.
Bell developed an interest in women's health during high school, influenced by her health science teacher who had previously worked as a labor and delivery nurse. She spent her summers observing an OB/GYN and attending deliveries, which confirmed her aspiration to pursue a degree in the healthcare field.
As a part-time clinical coordinator at AUCON, Bell oversees the Nurse Apprenticeship Program, acts as a liaison between students, faculty, and clinical partners to secure clinical placements that meet accreditation standards and program requirements, and facilitates student education in the lab and simulation center.
The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship (ASF) of Alabama is developing the next generation of healthcare professionals to serve and empower vulnerable people to live healthier lives and create healthier communities in Alabama. Since 2016, ASF of Alabama has trained 145 students who have partnered with over 89 community organizations to provide over 27,500 hours of service at a value of more than $695,760 to Alabama’s most vulnerable groups. Nationally, more than 4,000 U.S. Schweitzer Fellows have delivered nearly 750,000 hours of service to individuals and communities in need. Through its intensive one-year Fellowship program and the ongoing work of its 4,000+ Fellow for Life alumni, ASF perpetuates the legacy of physician-humanitarian and Nobel Peace laureate Dr. Albert Schweitzer.
