ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2025
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. This year, 60,000+ young leaders applied to join the Class of 2025 on 7,000+ campuses across 170 nations. 290+ campuses worldwide (less than 5%) were selected to host the 4,500+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT TERESA JANE MATHEW, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2025.
Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences | Bengaluru, India | Advancing SDG 3 & UNAI 3
" My compassion and curiosity in medicine inspire me to advocate for mental health. As a Millennium Fellow, I hope to build initiatives that promote well-being and fight stigma. This experience will help me gain skills and connections to make a lasting, sustainable impact while working with others toward a healthier and more inclusive world. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Paediatric Psychosocial Support Initiative Project
"There's a ward in our hospital called the paediatric haemato oncology ward. It has many many children who are admitted for days or months together because they are diagnosed with Blood Cancers.
What we noticed was that these children who were very lively and fun loving initially, slowly turn sad and quieter as the days go by during their stay in the hospital. It is usually do to a lot of reasons like them seeing their parents struggling, them missing their home and friends, or missing a huge part of their school life, or because they aren't able to be around their siblings due to risk of infection and even if they were discharged and could go back home, they had keep coming back to the hospital to continue their treatment and things were never gonna be the same for them.
So we decided that if we could meet up with them every week, do some fun activities with them or just sit and talk to them not as a doctor but simply as a friend and help them realise that they matter and that this is just a phase in their life and they are strong enough to overcome it. We also decided to speak to the parents because they are having a hard time too. They are often worried about their finances, other children, the fear of their child's cancer relapsing or their child's condition worsening.
We can clearly see that all of them are battling some or the other way because of their child's illness.
They might be having depression or any other medical disorder which is going undiagnosed and they have no one to speak to or rely on. No matter how much our physical health is given importance, mental health is still not regarded as an important aspect of health.
We might not be able to do anything big for them but when I go there as a friend to them, they find it easier to open up coz after all I'm a stranger to them initially. I want to help them get back their childhood instead of losing it to their illness. They are wonderful and bright and I feel they deserve to remain they utmost beautiful selves when they leave the hospital building to continue their lives outside."
About the Millennium Fellow
Ms. Teresa Jane Mathew is a passionate and driven medical student, dedicated to advancing healthcare and serving communities. She has cultivated a global perspective and a deep commitment to destigmatizing mental health and promoting well-being. Throughout her academic journey, she has led and contributed to impactful health initiatives, demonstrating both compassion and leadership. Aspiring to be a skilled and compassionate physician and to help create a world where everyone can live healthy, she aims to make a lasting contribution to the well-being of communities and the progress of medicine.
