Jeff Nadel, Colorado College, Men's Swimming

JEFF NADEL OF COLORADO COLLEGE, a senior on the men's swimming and diving team, has been selected the SCAC Character & Community Male Student-Athlete-of-the-Week for the week ending January 29, 2012.

It’s no coincidence that the renewed health of the Colorado College men’s swimming program coincided with the arrival of Jeff Nadel.

Nadel, who will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience along with minors in biochemistry and Latin American studies, is a former school record holder in the 200-yard backstroke and owns three Top-5 finishes at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships.

The swimming honors, however, are dwarfed by his accomplishments in the classroom and community.

A native of Centennial, Colo., Nadel has built an impressive array of academic honors. He arrived at CC in 2008 as a Boettcher Scholar, receiving a four-year full ride based on scholarship, leadership, service and character. As a freshman, Nadel earned a membership in the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society, which recognizes first-year academic excellence. Then, as a junior, he was inducted into the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society as well as the Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology.

Nominated by Colorado College for a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, Nadel emerged as one of 12 district finalists based on proven intellectual and academic achievement, as well as integrity of character, interest in and respect for their fellow beings, the ability to lead, and the energy to use their talents to the fullest.

But unlike swimming, in which athletes taper for a big finish at the end of the season, Nadel has gone all-out during his entire collegiate career, somehow finding the time and energy to be involved in a myriad of community service projects.

He has served as a volunteer at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, working with surgical technologists to prepare operating rooms prior to surgery, then to clean and restock operating rooms afterwards. He's also escorted patients and families to the surgical department, and assisted nurses in preparing patients for surgical procedures.

At the Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree, Colo., Nadel trained and mentored new junior volunteers in their respective positions, escorted patients and families, organized patient charts, assisted nurses in providing care services, and observed doctors as they assess and treat patients in the Cardiac Care Unit, Post Anesthesia Care Unit, and Emergency Department.

In addition, Nadel also participated in CC’s Boettcher Scholars five-day service trips and the Boettcher Foundation’s annual community service days. A volunteer assistant swim coach for the Special Olympics Swim Team from 2006-08, he also has served the campus community as a member of the Colorado College Health Professions Club, the Boettcher Scholars Advisory Committee, a mentor in the First Year Experience (FYE) program and a tutor in the psychology department.

At the international level, Nadel travelled to San José and San Carlos, Costa Rica, with the Associated Colleges of the Midwest for four months in 2011. During the trip, he worked as lead researcher on a study examining the incidence rate and risk factors for cognitive impairment among the elderly in rural regions of northern Costa Rica. He also founded an education and wellness initiative there to fund and develop a literacy, culture, and exercise/health curriculum.

Nadel currently is a summer research fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., working for the National Institute of Mental Health on Neuroadaptation and Protein Metabolism. He has served as a lead and collaborating researcher on several studies, with several of his team’s findings being published or presented.

After presenting his senior thesis – "Neuropsychological and Cognitive Consequences of Deep Brain Stimulation in Treating Parkinson’s Disease" – Nadel plans to pursue a health policy fellowship for a year before attending medical school. His ultimate goal is to work on healthcare implementation in disadvantaged and underrepresented communities by augmenting their access to mental health services.