This past June 30th and July 1st, I was given the tremendous honor of being asked to speak in Aspen Colorado to commemorate Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s visit and lecture there in 1949. It was also Albert Schweitzer’s 150th birthday. For those of you not familiar with the great Dr. Schweitzer, he was one of us. His life of service as a physician in a remote clinic in what is now the nation of Gabon embodied his love for those without access to healthcare. With skill and dedication, he created a hospital in the tiny town of Lamberene, initially using an abandoned shed with no electricity or other resources. Earlier in his life, he was a renowned scholar and musician but chose to become a physician in order to more directly serve those in greatest need. Due to his German citizenship, he was captured during WWI, but his patients forced the French to release him to continue his work. In Africa, he had a mystical realization while watching hippos swimming into a river that led him to his philosophy of “Reverence for Life.” His living example and his writings and lectures became an inspiration to the world. Not long after his visit to Aspen (his only visit to the US), he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Schweitzer was an inspiration to both me and my father, so I eagerly agreed to speak at the event. The more I read not just about Dr. Schweitzer's medical work, but his profound philosophy, the more I recognized the same core values we hold in street medicine. I have experienced, and heard many of you describe, a mystical experience when we see ourselves in the eyes of our sisters and brothers on the streets. My talk attempted to weave our reverence for the reality of those we serve together with Dr. Schweitzer’s Reverence for Life. Indeed, the two are essentially the same.

Jeff Olivet is an internationally recognized leader in public health and homelessness policy, with a deep focus on the intersection of housing, healthcare, and racial equity. As the executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) from 2022-2024, he led federal efforts to address homelessness as a public health crisis, advocating for policies that integrate healthcare and housing solutions and that prevent homelessness before it starts. He currently serves as Senior Advisor to the Initiative on Health and Homelessness at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a consultant to numerous organizations in the United States and internationally.

Congratulations to the 2025 Seed Grant Recipients! 

The Street Medicine Institute’s Seed Grant program furthers SMI’s mission of assisting communities to establish their own Street Medicine programs. The program facilitates and enhances the direct provision of health care to rough sleepers where they live by providing communities and clinicians with expert training, guidance, and support to develop and grow their own Street Medicine programs. We were delighted to have received a record twenty-nine deserving and qualified applications for the fifth year of this grant- evidence that street medicine is expanding across the United States.

The Street Medicine Institute is pleased to announce the opening of its 2025 Seed Grant award process!

SMI’s goal is to assist early stage street medicine programs in the United States – particularly in areas not currently served by street medicine – advance toward a more sustainable level of operation. Supported by the generosity of the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation, two successful grantees will each receive an award valued at over $14,000 to include:

Chastity Bowick is an award-winning activist, civil rights leader, and transgender health advocate. For seven years, she led the Transgender Emergency Fund of Massachusetts, which is the leading crisis agency for transgender communities in Massachusetts. Ms. Bowick launched Chastity’s Consulting & Talent Group, LLC (CCTG) in January of 2023. CCTG’s vision is to uplift and guide the transgender and gender nonconforming communities to be able to live a more adequate life with equal protections & opportunities and to educate everyone who provides services for those community on their needs and wants.

Congratulations to the 2024 Seed Grant Winners! 

The Street Medicine Institute’s Seed Grant program furthers SMI’s mission of assisting communities to establish their own Street Medicine programs. Now in its fourth year, the program facilitates and enhances the direct provision of health care to rough sleepers where they live by providing communities and clinicians with expert training, guidance, and support to develop and grow their own Street Medicine programs. We were delighted to have received a record twenty-two deserving and qualified applications in 2024.

The Street Medicine Institute is pleased to announce the opening of its 2024 Seed Grant award process!

SMI’s goal is to assist early stage street medicine programs in the United States – particularly in areas not currently served by street medicine – advance toward a more sustainable level of operation. Supported by the generosity of the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation, two successful grantees will each receive an award valued at over $14,000 to include:

The story of SMI Founder Dr. Jim Withers is the subject of a new documentary by director Jeff Sewald. Click here to read more and watch a CBS News Pittsburgh piece on the film.

Congratulations to the 2023 Seed Grant Winners! 

The Street Medicine Institute’s Seed Grant program furthers SMI’s mission of assisting communities to establish their own Street Medicine programs. Now in its third year, the program facilitates and enhances the direct provision of health care to rough sleepers where they live by providing communities and clinicians with expert training, guidance, and support to develop and grow their own Street Medicine programs. We were delighted to have received fifteen deserving and qualified applications in 2023.