Kate Lewis

Lewis’ innovative teaching idea, “Diseases,” is focused on offering her chemistry students a more practical and hands-on way of learning about common health problems in America — cancer, infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases — with a major focus on education and prevention. Lewis believes that traditional chemistry courses do not focus on many "real world topics" and students struggle to see the connection between what is taught in the class and what to use in life. The main objective of Lewis’ program is to teach skills related to disease prevention and healthcare that students can apply in their own lives. Funds from the grant will go towards developing curriculum on the following topics: healthy eating, where students can actually cook meals that prevent their chances of cardiovascular diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes and heart attacks; disease treatment, including learning how antibiotics destroy bacteria; and also how certain bacteria can become resistant to treatment; and infectious and deadly diseases, with a focus on Ebola.