Re-posted from the UAB School of Nursing: Two alumni named 2021 ASF Fellows – School of Nursing – News | UAB

By Erica Techo

Teamwork, sustainability and improving access to care are key tenants of nursing and of the UAB School of Nursing. And for two UABSON graduates, a prestigious fellowship will support progress on all three tenants.

Spring 2021 Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduates Grace Menzies and Joia Pfeiffer are continuing their education and their impact through graduate school and as 2021-22 Fellows with the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship of Alabama. Pfeiffer will return to the UAB School of Nursing as a Doctor of Nursing Practice Family Nurse Practitioner student this fall, and Menzies is a master’s student in the UAB School of Public Health.

“While we were BSN students at UAB, Grace and I bonded over our passion for working with underserved and vulnerable populations,” said Pfeiffer. “We are grateful for a school like UAB that offered an environment where we could explore our interests, especially in our undergraduate studies.”

As part of their Fellowship, Pfeiffer and Menzies are focusing on competency training to reproduce a sustainable, nurse-led model for improving access to primary care for vulnerable populations in central Alabama. To do this, they will partner with the Changed Lives Mobile Clinic to support clients. This includes providing medication access, referring for additional clinical services and working with student nurses.

This project also supports the future of nurse leaders as pioneers in primary care delivery, especially for underserved and vulnerable populations, Pfeiffer said.