The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Names Chief Development Officer

March 9, 2011 - PRLog -- With the 20th anniversary of its efforts to reduce U.S. health disparities on the horizon, The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship (ASF) has named Marilyn Kuhar as Chief Development Officer.

Kuhar previously directed development for the Children’s Defense Fund, the New England Division of the American Cancer Society, the Museum of Science in Boston, and Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. In her new role, Kuhar will enhance opportunities for corporations, foundations, and individuals to participate in ASF’s mission through major philanthropy.

“We are unbelievably excited to welcome Marilyn. Her passion for our mission of developing Leaders in Service who are dedicated and skilled in meeting the health needs of underserved communities is equaled only by her proven skill as a thoughtful, strategic, and successful development professional,” says ASF President Lachlan Forrow, MD, Chair of Ethics and Palliative Care Programs at ASF’s host organization, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

“Over nearly two decades, ASF has supported over 2,000 Schweitzer Fellows—exceptional graduate and professional school students who have delivered more than 400,000 hours of health-focused community service to underserved people,” says Kuhar. “These lifelong Leaders in Service are at the forefront of today’s movement to address health disparities. I am thrilled to join the organization that’s behind them.”

In addition to an international program in Lambaréné, Africa, ASF operates 13 U.S. program sites dedicated to developing a pipeline of emerging professionals who enter the workforce with the skills and commitment necessary to address unmet health needs. 99 percent of Schweitzer Fellows for Life (program alumni) say that ASF is integral to sustaining their commitment to serve the underserved.

As ASF’s Chief Development Officer, Kuhar will build on her previous fundraising efforts directed towards problems caused by health disparities. Kuhar began her development career at Johns Hopkins University and then worked for nearly ten years at MIT. From 1994 -98, she was Director of Development at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, where she helped secure nearly 80% of the School’s $22 million segment of the Tufts Tomorrow campaign, including funding for the launch of the Feinstein International Famine Center.

Kuhar lead the New England Division of the American Cancer Society in a successful campaign for research support, patient outreach and service, and capital investment, including a $27 million Hope Lodge in Boston and a $5 million lodge in Burlington, Vermont. Her past experience also includes corporate and foundation fundraising for Partners HealthCare System, and being Director of Development for the Museum of Science in Boston and the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, DC.

Next up on Kuhar’s radar screen is ASF’s first-ever fundraising gala, to be held in Boston, MA in Fall 2012. “I look forward to celebrating the 20th anniversary of ASF’s U.S. Fellows Program,” says Kuhar. “What a remarkable opportunity to spotlight the paths our alumni have taken since their Fellowship year, and explore the impact they are having on the day-to-day lives of vulnerable and underserved populations.”

For more information, visit http://www.schweitzerfellowship.org.

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ASF's mission is to develop Leaders in Service: individuals who are dedicated and skilled in meeting the health needs of underserved communities, and whose example influences and inspires others.

These graduate-student Fellows partner with community-based organizations to identify an unmet health need, design a yearlong 200-hour service project with a demonstrable impact on that need, and bring that project from idea to implementation and impact. Annually, 250 Schweitzer Fellows deliver more than 40,000 hours of health-related community service at 13 locations across the U.S. Schweitzer Fellows also work at the Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, Africa, collaborating with hospital staff to help provide skilled care through over 35,000 outpatient visits and more than 6,000 hospitalizations annually for patients from all parts of Gabon.

Fellows carry their commitment to meeting the health needs of underserved people forward as members of the Fellows for Life alumni network.