"Albert Schweitzer Portrait" World Premiere Tonight at Schweitzer in America: Interview with Albert Schweitzer Foundation President Lachlan Forrow

What are some of the standout projects that have been completed through the program?

There are so many projects to choose from: over 2,000! But one of the standout projects would have to Leslie Hsu's. Leslie was a 1997-98 Boston Fellow, and she spearheaded the HepB Initiative, which raises awareness about hepatitis B and offers testing and vaccinations to Boston's Chinatown and surrounding neighborhoods. She did an amazing job of mobilizing fellow health professional students, as well as the community, and her project has had tremendous ongoing impact.

And a current Boston Fellow whose project is having similarly impressive impact is Ashley Younger, a student at the Boston College Connell School of Nursing. Her project is a two-fold approach to correcting health disparities in the Haitian community of Mattapan. First, she is working with Dana Farber to organize a scholarship program that provides Haitian immigrants with certified nursing assistant training and certification. Second, she is training the scholars as community outreach educators who go on to engage in illness prevention and cancer screening projects for the local community. Ashley is collaborating with the Mattapan Haitian Multi-Service Center and Voices of the Tabernacle Church. She's actually going to be talking about her project the afternoon of May 9 at the symposium we're hosting about addressing health inequalities through direct service.

How was Albert Schweitzer Portrait developed? How do you see the program relating to the music that's been produced?

Nobel Peace-Prize winning physician, musician, and humanitarian Albert Schweitzer made his sole visit to the U.S. in 1949. 2009 is the 60th anniversary of that historic visit—and since Schweitzer's legacy of translating idealism into action through direct service is more resonant than ever, we wanted to celebrate! Schweitzer was a gifted musician, so going this route made sense. And collaborating with the Longwood Symphony Orchestra (LSO) made sense, too—we have a rich mutual history. Back in 1991, Longwood Symphony Orchestra collaborated with ASF on a symposium focusing on Schweitzer's ethic of "reverence for life." That event both inspired LSO's wonderful Healing Art of Music Program and launched the U.S. Schweitzer Fellows Program. With this concert, we're coming full circle. And of course, having former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher narrate the Portrait and receive the Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism at the performance is the icing on the cake—there's no one who better embodies Schweitzer's legacy than Satcher. He's a terrific role model for young people looking to make Schweitzer-spirited service a driving force in their own lives. I can't wait to hear him read Schweitzer's words at the premiere of the Portrait -- it's going to be an extraordinarily powerful moment.

Has music been used as a therapy by any of the fellows? Do you foresee this happening in the future?

As a matter of fact, yes. An 08-09 Boston Fellow, Scott Halligan of the New England Conservatory of Music, collaborated with the New England Conservatory Outreach Office and Young Audiences of Massachusetts' Healing Arts for Kids program to lead improvised creative music sessions with pediatric patients, and give an educational series of solo cello concert presentations at local children's hospitals. Another 08-09 Fellow, Jenna St. Pierre of Berklee College of Music, collaborated with Horizons for Homeless Children/Bigalow House in Cambridge to incorporate musical activities into their pre-existing Playspace program. And this trend will continue -- one of our newly-selected 09-10 Boston Fellows, Stephanie Nussbaum of the New England Conservatory of Music, will be giving live, interactive music performances to small groups of senior citizens at Hebrew Senior Life in Jamaica Plain in order to harness the healing value of music and its potential to improve mental, physical, and emotional health.

Boston is the largest of the ASF programs. How has the program grown elsewhere over the years?

We've come a long way. ASF was originally founded in 1940 to support Schweitzer's medical work in Africa during World War II. Since his death in 1965, the Fellowship has continued to provide direct assistance to the Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné. In 1978, we began sending senior medical students from the United States to work there. Then, in 1991, the Fellowship launched its U.S. Schweitzer Fellows Programs, and we've expanded ever since. We now have 11 U.S. Program sites across the country, and more than 2,000 Fellows have contributed over 350,000 hours of service at hundreds of domestic community agencies. We'd like to expand to additional sites over the next few years. Schweitzer believed that idealism was humanity's greatest untapped resource, and his legacy is alive in these Fellows -- it's a wonderful thing to see.

What do you think Schweitzer's main concern with today's conditions would be?

Schweitzer was a passionate advocate for nuclear disarmament, and I think he'd be horrified that we haven't yet rid the world of nuclear arms. But I think he'd be heartened by President Obama's speech in Prague on April 5. Obama said, "As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act . . . I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons."