Schweitzer Fellow providing health education for Latino community

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

Media Contact: Kayley Spielbusch | Digital Communications Specialist | 918-561-5759 | kspielb@okstate.edu

Christopher Coronado is promoting health education for Tulsa’s Latino community. 

Coronado is a second-year medical student at Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine and a part of the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship 2024-25 Tulsa cohort. Tulsa is one of 13 program sites in the United States. The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship equips graduate and professional students with the skills they need to be leaders in health care. 

Growing up in Oklahoma City, Coronado did not see Latino physicians like himself. 

“I saw my family go through preventable medical challenges due to a lack of education as well as the lack of physicians that are able to speak, relate to, and understand families of different backgrounds,” he said. 

Seeing the challenges his family experienced when trying to access health care services inspired him to want to make a difference. This led him down the path to medical school, where he hopes to be a familiar presence for his patients and a representative of his community in a clinical setting.

Coronado decided to apply for the Schweitzer Fellowship because he saw how prior fellows were making a difference in the lives of others through their projects.

“Sometimes, medical school makes you feel like you can’t help your community until after you graduate. With the Schweitzer Fellowship, I am able to make an impact in my community now,” he said. 

For his project, Coronado partnered with the UMA Center of Tulsa, a nonprofit whose mission is to empower traditionally underserved communities through education, economic development and advocacy. 

Coronado follows in the footsteps of fellow OSU-COM students Paul Delgado and Carolina Quijada, prior Albert Schweitzer Fellows who partnered with the UMA Center during their fellowship years. 

Coronado’s project, Cuida tu Salud e Infórmate, is a six-week program focused on health education and literacy. Attendees are taught skills essential to understanding and caring for their health, such as reading prescriptions and completing clinical forms. 

Additionally, the program covers topics such as nutrition, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, mental health and more. 

Through his project, Coronado hopes he can help the Latino community successfully navigate similar challenges his family faced. 

“I’ve seen the effects of chronic disease in the Latino community firsthand, which could have been prevented with education and awareness,” he said. 

Coronado and the Uma Center celebrated the graduation of the program’s fourth and final cohort, which consisted of 18 participants, in April. 

Although Corando completed his final cohort, the Uma Center will carry his health education into their future programming with Paolla Anderson and Frida Miranda, OSU-COM students and members of the 2025-26 Tulsa cohort, continuing the legacy of working alongside the Uma Center during their fellowship year. 

Coronado is thrilled that his peers will continue making a difference in their community. 

“The Uma Center has made a big impact on the Latino population in Tulsa. It’s exciting that Frida and Paolla will make their own impact and address additional needs with them, taking on a new adventure with the same organization,” he said.