The Fuld Leadership Program
Fuld Fellowships
Lisa Strassner Hutchcraft
Biographical Sketch
Biographical Sketch
Lisa Strassner Huthcraft
Lisa Strassner Hutchcraft is a rural Pennsylvania native who has been actively involved in socially responsible endeavors since she was a teenager. At 17, Lisa moved to New Mexico to attend the United World College, an international school with a commitment to peace, justice and international understanding, where she quickly realized the global need for sustainable development, peace-building and social justice. Lisa’s passions led her to participate in two hands-on volunteer community service projects. She helped to maintain the sustainable rural agriculture facilities at a local vocational college and presented weekly HIV/AIDS Prevention workshops in local middle and high schools.
Lisa took these commitments with her to Colorado College, where she studied Political Science with an emphasis on Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa and was deeply involved in campus and community activism and service projects. Throughout her college experiences, including travel to Cuba and Zimbabwe, Lisa became more committed to addressing structural issues of injustice and placed less emphasis on direct service or charity work. As part of this exploration, Lisa conducted an independent study project on the juncture of theory and practice in social change movements as part of an Urban Studies semester in Chicago.
Upon graduation, Lisa moved to rural Haiti to volunteer with Haiti Projects. She assisted the Executive Director to improve the overall sustainability, organization and operations of a women’s sewing cooperative, family planning clinic and community library. In addition, she spent three months in Venezuela developing a peer-education training program on reproductive health including HIV/AIDS prevention. After Venezuela, Lisa moved to Washington, DC, to pursue a career in International Development where she worked for the Population Institute and Landmine Survivors Network, an international organization that seeks to rehabilitate individuals and communities impacted by war.
Although Lisa enjoyed working on certain projects with international organizations, she missed working in the field and felt disconnected from the families and communities that the organizations served. In January 2005, Lisa began to volunteer at the Washington Free Clinic as a Spanish interpreter and patient assistant and immediately connected with the role of Nurse Practitioners and Midwives. Lisa quit her office job the following year to work as a Clinical Assistant at Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington. She loved providing hands-on care to such a diverse population of patients and she know she had found the work she wanted to pursue.
Lisa plans to become a Family Nurse Practitioner and Certified Nurse Midwife to address social, political and economic issues while providing primary health and maternity care. Ultimately, Lisa wants to strengthen the capacity of vulnerable individuals, families and communities to identify and reduce barriers to health, wellness and improved quality of life. Lisa is excited to learn practical skills to make a difference and feels that Emory is a perfect place to fully explore nursing as social responsibility.
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