Tickets starting at $350 will get civic leaders, healthcare professionals and advocates into the Royal Sonesta Houston Galleria on Wednesday, September 16, where the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Houston-Galveston chapter will host its Lighting the Way Gala to raise money for student stipends and project grants supporting health equity work across Greater Houston and Galveston.
The event runs from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the hotel, located at 2222 W. Loop S. in Houston, according to CultureMap Houston. The gala will honor humanitarian award recipients Rochelle Jacobson and Anne-Laure Stephens and will feature interactive displays showcasing health equity projects led by the chapter's Schweitzer fellows, per the same outlet. Organizers note the event is subject to change because of weather or other concerns.
Longtime fellowship supporter Sara Speer Selber, who has also served as an applicant interviewer for the program, was appointed to chair this year's gala, according to the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Houston-Galveston. Selber has worked with the chapter across multiple recruitment and advocacy initiatives over the years, the organization says.
A Chapter With Deep Local Roots
The Houston-Galveston chapter was founded in 2008 by Dr. David Buck in response to severe healthcare access disparities in Greater Houston, according to the University of Houston. Since then, the chapter has trained more than 300 fellows who have logged over 30,000 service hours in underserved local communities, the university reports.
The chapter draws its student fellows from a wide network of regional academic partners, including Baylor College of Medicine, UTHealth Houston, UTMB at Galveston, the University of Houston, Rice University, Texas A&M University and Prairie View A&M, according to the national Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. The program recruits multidisciplinary cohorts spanning medicine, dentistry, nursing, social work and public health.
Leading the local effort is Executive Director Dr. Andrea Link, an assistant professor at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, who guides fellows as they design community projects aimed at improving healthcare access in underserved Houston-Galveston neighborhoods. Link was recently named one of the Houston Business Journal's 2026 Most Admired CEO honorees, according to UTHealth Houston.
From Dental Students to Hospice Patients
Five UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry students were selected for the 2026-2027 fellowship cohort, including fellows expanding a career exploration program into its third year at YES Prep Public Schools, per UTHealth Houston. The initiative, known as the Explore Club, introduces first-generation high school students to healthcare career paths and mentorship.
During the 2025-2026 program year, fellows also collaborated with Houston Hospice to develop specialized memory kits designed to help end-of-life patients and their families preserve legacies, according to the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Houston-Galveston's Facebook page. Houston Hospice provides inpatient and home care support to terminally ill patients across the region.
Gala proceeds fund student stipends, project grants and local outreach initiatives that make projects like these possible, according to CultureMap Houston. Last year's fundraiser, held in September 2025 at the Briar Club, drew more than 300 attendees as affordable housing developers Joy Horak-Brown and Michael M. Fowler were honored as Humanitarians of the Year, according to UTHealth Houston. That event raised funds through sponsorships and a silent auction while showcasing student poster presentations, the university noted.
A National Network Behind the Local Push
The Houston-Galveston chapter is one of ten regional chapters under the national Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, which was established in 1940 and supports roughly 250 graduate students annually across 53 partner academic institutions nationwide, according to The University of Tulsa. The fellowship honors the philosophy of service associated with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Albert Schweitzer.
The national office relocated its headquarters from Boston to the University of Tulsa's Oxley College of Health & Natural Sciences in October 2025, the university says, a move that now coordinates chapter strategy and leadership summits across the country. That broader institutional shift underscores the scale of the movement local fellows tap into as they build health equity projects across Greater Houston and Galveston.
