UIC students earn Schweitzer fellowships to make lasting community health impact

Eight UIC students have been selected as Schweitzer fellows for 2026-27. Top row, left to right: Athirai Ambikkumar, Abby Suleman, Bri Coleman, Emily Cyrwus. Bottom row, left to right: Maryam Amin, Niki Sabetfakhri, Shreya Kurup, Toi Johnson. Listen to story summary

Niki Sabetfakhri didn't set out to be a yoga teacher. As an MD/PhD student at the University of Illinois Chicago, she became involved in psychiatric research, using neuroimaging to better understand the biology underlying mental health conditions.

But during the first year of her PhD studies, Sabetfakhri learned her mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

"She was always a very active person and loved yoga and movement," Sabetfakhri said. "But during that period, it was really tough to find yoga programs that could accommodate her." As her mother's caretaker during that time, Sabetfahkri had the role of helping her mom deal with her pain and communicate that pain to doctors.

Now, supported by the Chicago Area Schweitzer Fellows Program, Sabetfakhri will help women living with cancer-related chronic pain navigate those challenges through education, movement and adaptive yoga.

Sabetfakhri is one of eight UIC students selected as Schweitzer fellows for 2026-27 and awarded funding for health-related community service projects.

This year's other UIC fellows are Athirai Ambikkumar and Shreya Kurup, also in the College of Medicine; Maryam Amin in the Retzky College of Pharmacy; Bri Coleman in the Jane Addams College of Social Work; Emily Cyrwus in the College of Dentistry; Toi Johnson in the College of Applied Health Sciences; and Abby Suleman in the College of Nursing.

Founded in 1996, the Schweitzer Fellows program prepares emerging healthcare professionals to tackle pressing community health challenges. The 26 fellows in the 2026-27 Chicago cohort, representing diverse disciplines, design and lead a yearlong service project while growing as professionals, leaders and collaborators.

"Being selected as a Schweitzer Fellow is both an honor and a responsibility," said Johnson, whose project focuses on teaching healthy eating skills to kids in underserved communities. "It motivates me to become the kind of healthcare professional who not only treats health issues but also helps prevent them through education and community engagement."

Rooted in lived experience

A Navy veteran, Johnson spent 17 years in the culinary and hospitality industry before pursuing a career as a registered dietitian nutritionist.

"My goal is to empower the next generation to see nutritional eating as something enjoyable, accessible and achievable," Johnson said. Through her Schweitzer project, Johnson will teach kids about cooking, grocery shopping and making healthy choices in the kitchen and in their lives.

Similarly, Sabetfakhri's project, hosted at Gilda's Club Chicago, will offer education and movement for women with cancer-related chronic pain. She'll host sessions on managing pain and communicating symptoms to healthcare providers and will lead yoga sessions for people with pain and mobility limitations.

"My goal is to bring in education about the physiology and neuroscience of pain, and to help people talk about it - describing their pain more effectively in appointments and communicating with caregivers and providers," she said.

Meeting community needs

For many of the fellows, hearing from people in the community about unmet needs is what shaped their projects.

Ambikkumar said the fellowship gave her an opportunity to make a real difference for her patients. Working at the free clinic CommunityHealth and partnering with community organizations, Ambikkumar will establish an on-site food pantry in response to patients' lack of access to nutritious food. She will also provide recipes specific to common ailments, helping patients connect healthy eating to their medical care.

"What makes the project unique is that it came directly from listening to what patients said they needed," Ambikkumar said. "We listened first and built the project around their voices."

Second-year medical student Kurup is using her Schweitzer Fellowship to address chronic musculoskeletal pain among people experiencing homelessness in Chicago. At Fourth Presbyterian Church in Streeterville, she will provide education on stretching, mobility and pain management, while building interdisciplinary partnerships across UIC and connecting participants with free orthopedic care.

"Musculoskeletal pain comes up constantly. People are carrying their belongings with them, sitting or sleeping for long periods in uncomfortable positions, and often have limited access to resources for managing that pain. I wanted to find practical ways to address some of those needs where people already are," she said.

Pharmacy student Amin is similarly focused on reducing barriers to care. Partnering with Hamdard Health Alliance's Adult Program, Amin will provide culturally and linguistically responsive medication education and chronic disease support for older immigrant adults. Through trusted, community-based engagement, her project aims to help participants better understand their medications and manage chronic health conditions.

Nursing student Suleman's project focuses on supporting Black doulas working with patients before, during and after childbirth. Through skill-building workshops and peer support, her project will help doulas prevent, identify and recover from burnout while providing racially concordant care to communities on Chicago's South and West sides.

Building lasting impact

Several fellows hope their projects will keep benefiting communities long after their fellowship year ends.

Coleman, a third-year social work student, draws on her own journey healing from trauma, as well as her background in human services and social work. Partnering with the YWCA Evanston/North Shore, Coleman will implement survivor-led healing circles and workshops on how to navigate resources for women and children impacted by domestic violence.

The program's design is guided by the science of hope framework, a research-based way to understand hope as a set of practical skills that can be developed and strengthened, Coleman said.

"Hope is the No. 1 predictor of resilience. It's a feeling, yes, but it's also an action - something you can practice," Coleman said.

With her project, Coleman aims to build practices the YWCA can sustain long after her fellowship ends. "I get to see my purpose in action."

Cyrwus, a fourth-year dental student, shares that goal of creating lasting impact. She's using support from Schweitzer to expand access to oral health care for older adults who are homebound or living in nursing homes.

Inspired by early experiences shadowing a dentist who provided free care to a patient in need, Cyrwus will partner with a geriatric dental specialist in Chicago to provide preventative care such as cleanings, exams and oral hygiene education to older patients while also assisting with extractions, denture fittings and other needs.

She also plans to involve second- and third-year dental students in the outreach as a regular rotation integrated into the College of Dentistry's programs.

"Through the fellowship, I'm finally able to do what I have always wanted to do and hopefully have it continue to grow past me," Cywrus said.