On April 13th our outgoing 2023-24 Fellows were honored at our annual Celebration of Service (COS). Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama was our Presenting Sponsor again this year and we were graciously hosted on the campus of Samford University by our Academic Supporting Sponsor, Samford College of Health Sciences. The 2023-24 class is made up of 21 graduate students representing Auburn University, Samford University, the University of Montevallo and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) with Fellows from an array of health disciplines including audiology, counseling, dentistry, medicine, nursing, nutrition sciences, optometry, pharmacy and social work.

We also recognized individuals that were important to the success of the projects of the outgoing Fellows over the year. These individuals were nominated by the class of 2023-24 Fellows. The winners of this years awards are:

Outstanding Community Advisory Board Member: Martha Griffin who worked with Fellow Sarika Mullapudi

Outstanding Community Educator: Ashley Loftis of Addiction Prevention Coalition

Outstanding Academic Mentor: Lisa Gurley, PhD, RN

Outstanding Site Mentor: Dr. Lameshia Chambers of Live HealthSmart Alabama

Our mentor awards were sponsored this year by UAB’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science.

In addition, we welcomed our 2024-25 service class recognizing them and their institutions at the start of their service projects. Both our incoming and outgoing Fellows and their guests were encouraged and challenged by our Humanitarian of the Year awardee, Dr. Carlos Alemán of HICA. Dr. Alemán was introduced by Dulce Rivera, CEO of Mí Pueblo Supermarket, who also sponsored the award.