Cameron Nations holds a degree with honors in English Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is currently pursuing an M.Div at Sewanee: The University of the South in his home state of Tennessee. Cameron has served in leadership positions in two prominent UIUC student organizations: the U of I chapter of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, and on the executive board of Interfaith in Action. In October 2010, he had the opportunity to attend the Interfaith Youth Core’s Leadership Training Institute in Washington, DC as a student representative from UIUC.
Though having grown up in the Baptist tradition while living in Nashville, TN, Cameron joined the Episcopal Church while in college and is a member of Emmanuel Memorial Episcopal Church in downtown Champaign. He enjoys writing (obviously), things that stain one’s teeth (coffee, tea, dark ale), the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Geoffrey Chaucer, long walks, big cities, and snow. He is currently a Postulant for Holy Orders in the Episcopal Church.
Greg Damhorst was raised in the Evangelical Covenant Church, where he first learned the basics of his faith as an active member his congregation’s youth group. As a high school student, Greg began to understand what it means to live radically in following the example of loving others that characterizes Jesus’ life – lessons that have impacted his life significantly since. He studied physics as an undergraduate, and now is an MD/PhD student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he pursues a doctorate in Bioengineering working on portable, low-cost, point-of-care technology for HIV/AIDS diagnosis in resource-limited settings. When not studying or working in his lab, Greg enjoys tennis, Chicago sports (except for the Cubs), and the sort of long distance running that makes it hard to walk the next day (he’s probably training for a half marathon right now).
Greg has been a leader with Interfaith in Action, the University of Illinois’ premier student interfaith organization, since early 2007. Motivated by Jesus’ compassion and ministry of healing, Greg is pursuing a career at the intersection of medicine, technology, and service, and he is interested in the role interfaith cooperation will play in the effort to bring health to the people who need it most.