2025: April Edwell
Projects for Peace and the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation at Middlebury are pleased to announce the 2025 Projects for Peace Alumni Award recipient: April Edwell MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center.
Now in its third year, the award grants $50,000 to support the ongoing peacebuilding efforts of a past Projects for Peace grant recipient who demonstrates innovation and persistence in working for peace and transforming conflict.
Edwell was nominated for the award by Duke University, where as an undergraduate she implemented her 2007 Project for Peace, “Camp WISER” (Women’s Institute for Secondary Education & Research) to help young Kenyan girls overcome barriers to secondary education using community-driven solutions and dialogue.
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. 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.