Newton, MA--Boston College Law School is pleased to announce that first-year student Maria Nunez has been named a Boston Schweitzer Fellow.  She will join approximately 260 other 2011-12 Schweitzer fellows across the country carrying out service projects that address health needs of underserved individuals and communities. 

Nunez is the only law student among the 25 Boston Schweitzer fellows.  Her aim is to address health and social disparities by re-establishing an on-site legal clinic at Whittier Street Health Center through coordination with the health center’s staff and local lead organizations. 

Fellows are required to partner with a community-based organization and design a 200-hour service project with a demonstrable impact on an unmet health need.  They are then responsible for implementing the project and seeing that it meets its goals.

Nunez’s project will focus legal attention that is critical to the welfare of Whittier’s unique patient population--which predominantly depends on public assistance and social services--by employing a multi-pronged approach that involves conducting a legal needs assessment of the patient population and developing a legal training program for providers.

Upon completion of her initial year, Nunez will become Schweitzer Fellow for Life, joining a network that consists of over 2,000 individuals who are skilled in, and committed to, addressing the health needs of underserved people throughout their careers.

The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to develop leaders who are dedicated and skilled in meeting the health needs of underserved communities and whose example influences and inspires others.  For a listing of the 2011-12 Boston Schweitzer Fellows, please visit www.schweitzerfellowship.org/boston.