Projects for Peace Announces 2025 Alumni Award
Projects for Peace and the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation at Middlebury has named April Edwell, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at theUniversity of California, San Francisco Medical Center, winner of the 2025 Projects for Peace Alumni Award.
The annual award provides up to $50,000 in support of ongoing peacebuilding efforts of past Projects for Peace grant recipients who demonstrate innovation and persistence in working for peace and transforming conflict. Edwell will use the award to bolster her commitment to peacebuilding through conflict transformation in healthcare settings and the integration of trauma-informed care with anti-racist frameworks.
“The fact that Dr. Edwell’s project emerged as the winner of the Projects for Peace Alumni Award from among such a strong group is testament to the thoughtful, inclusive nature of the work she is doing and the very real impact she is having,” said then Interim Middlebury President Stephen Snyder. “We’re excited to be able to support her in continuing this work.”
Edwell won a 2007 Projects for Peace grant as an undergraduate at Duke University focused on reducing barriers to educational access for young Kenyan women. Since then, her work has evolved from addressing global educational disparities to tackling inequities in healthcare. As a pediatric critical care physician, Edwell says she has witnessed first-hand the harm caused by systemic racism and inequitable practices.
“While healthcare has been on the leading edge of many scientific and scholarly discoveries, there is a gap in how we deal with conflict that arises during hospitalization,” she said. “What we know about these moments is that often racially minoritized families experience a disproportionate amount of harm when conflict comes up. Understanding those moments through the lens of peacebuilding could enable us to make a dramatic shift in how hospitals deliver care and support to patients and families globally.”
Sarah Stroup, professor of political science and former director of the KWD Collaborative in Conflict Transformation, says Edwell has the interpersonal skills, experience, and passion to create positive change through conflict transformation.
“From her initial Projects for Peace efforts in Kenya to her current role as a physician in the Bay Area, Dr. Edwell has tackled ambitious projects with humility, curiosity, generosity, and a sense of possibility,” said Stroup. “As a physician, she understands the importance of practicing new skills and dispositions that prepare us for crisis moments. Her willingness to explore and grow, combined with her deep care for others, provides an example of how to build peace in our local and global communities.”
Launched in 2022, the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation is the centerpiece of a seven-year, $25 million grant aimed at incorporating conflict transformation skills into every corner of the Middlebury community while building a global network of scholars and practitioners.
Projects for Peace, which is headquartered at Middlebury College’s Center for Community Engagement, is a global program that encourages young adults to develop innovative, community-centered, and scalable responses to the world’s most pressing issues. Student leaders from the more than 90 member institutions have increased their knowledge, improved skills, and established identities as peacebuilders and changemakers.