Saint Louis Magis Medal Winners

James Kimmey, MD (Saint Louis University ’93)

James Kimmey, MD has served as president of the World Federation of Public Health Associations; president of the American Health Planning Association; chair of the Community Health Planning Section of APHA; chair of the Task Force on Accreditation for the Health Professions; chair of St. Louis ConnectCare, a safety net provider; president of the Metropolitan St. Louis Hospital Council; president of the St. Louis Chapter of the Missouri Public Health Association; and chair of the Gateway Center for Giving. He currently serves on the board of Families USA, a national advocacy organization for health equity and that of Casa de Salud, a community-based provider in St. Louis. He was on the board and served as chair of Grantmakers in Health, the national association for health focused foundations.

Thomas Nolan (Saint Louis University ’01)

Thomas M. Nolan’s unwavering commitment to the social justice issues of education and human rights, locally in St. Louis, and globally in Belize, is truly an inspiration.  Nolan spent 20 years as a Director of the Human Rights Office for the Archdiocese of St. Louis.  In that role, he was responsible for a variety of social justice initiatives, including the establishment of Cardinal Ritter College Prep, a Roman Catholic college preparatory high school serving a predominantly African-American enrollment in St. Louis. He also co-founded several organizations focusing on social justice issues in St. Louis, including the North Area Catholic Educators and Vision for Children at Risk, and was elected to a six-year term on the St. Louis Board of Education. In 1998, Nolan led the founding of Loyola Academy, a Jesuit middle school for boys in St. Louis that follows the Nativity Miguel model of education.  Under his leadership the school thrived, and its students have gone on to attend prestigious high schools and colleges.  Building on the success of Loyola Academy, Nolan and others established ACCESS Academies, a not-for-profit corporation which implements the Nativity Miguel program in faith-based middle schools.  Since its inception, ACCESS has begun four such schools in the City of St. Louis, expanding high-quality, life-changing education for children living in poverty. The past several years, he has served as a founder of Belize 2020, a joint venture among Saint Louis University, St. Martin de Porres Parish and School in Belize City, other Jesuit ministries in Belize, and volunteers from the St. Louis community.  The group coordinates resources and assistance, intended to promote full human development and genuine collaboration between its U.S. and Belize members.  

Lindsey Weston (Saint Louis University ’13)

In 2011, Lindsey Weston studied abroad with the Casa de la Solidaridad program in El Salvador and calls this a defining experience in her life. Following her time in El Salvador, Ms. Weston founded Tortillas for Tepecoyo to further support the community she had grown to love. She created a website for the program in 2012 to gather donations and later applied for a Bright Ideas Grant through her university. Her application connected nutrition and academic success, hoping to heighten cultural awareness at SLU. Today, Tortillas for Tepecoyo continues to support the critical community kitchen and funds scholarships for local students. Ms. Weston’s time in El Salvador sparked a greater interest in food access stateside. Previously she served as a SNAP Application Assistant and Community Educator at The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona through the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. Currently she works at The Food Trust, a Philadelphia non-profit working to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, nutritious food and information to make healthy decisions. Ms. Weston provides education lessons which include cooking demonstrations and free taste tests to community members in bodegas throughout Philadelphia. 

Jesse Sullivan (Saint Louis University ’05)

Jesse Sullivan’s experience at Casa de la Solidaridad in El Salvador was pivotal.  While still at SLU, Mr. Sullivan founded One World, a magazine with the goal of inspiring students to fight global poverty and oppression. After finishing his master’s degree in global governance and diplomacy at Oxford University, Mr. Sullivan served as Special Assistant to the Ambassador to Haiti and drew attention to Haiti’s cause by garnering national attention for sleeping in a tent during a harsh D.C. winter. Mr. Sullivan also worked for the Center for Survivors of Torture and War Trauma, where he felt called to Afghanistan. Serving as a strategic analyst, he worked on sustainable improvements in the lives of the Afghan people. “I've spent my life searching for the most effective way to serve those most in need around the world: Startups and Investing in Paraguay and Bhutan, Defense in Afghanistan, Government in the U.S. and Haiti, and NGOs in El Salvador and Palestine.”  He is now the founder and CEO of Alter, a venture that matches the best entrepreneurs in the least developed countries, starting in Haiti, to scale and create jobs.