Public Health

Sophia Tiajoloff is the Director of Special Events at Fountain House in New York City where she has built an organizational infrastructure to engage diverse audiences in support of funding innovative initiatives, pilot programs, and evidence-based strategies for people living with serious mental illness. Sophia graduated from Vassar College with a degree in Psychology, focusing in neuroscience and cultural health, and a minor in Russian Studies. During her years at Fountain House, Sophia played a critical leadership role and spearheaded an organizational funding strategy, tapping into new key audiences to support the expansion from a local to national organization when operations grew from a $6M to $16M budget. During a time when public demand and engagement grew at the peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Sophia led a COVID-19 emergency response fundraising campaign, built an engagement plan recognizing long-standing donors and developed new pathways for a more diverse donor base to engage in public events. Previously, Sophia has volunteered at organizations at the intersection of youth education and disability rights. Her experiences fostered a commitment towards disability rights, social justice work and mental health reform.

Abenezer is a Human Resource Professional with almost ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Abenezer earned a Bachelor of Art in Public Administration and Development Management from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. While working as a Senior Human Resource Officer with CARE International in Ethiopia, he helped the organization to recruit, train, and retain a high performing workforce and implemented gender equality program in recruitment to increase female employees in the organization. Previously, Abenezer worked as a HR & Admin Manager with International Rescue Committee Ethiopia program under USAID and other donors funded programs. Through these experiences, he has developed strong people management skills, communication skills, and created welcoming workplaces for employees, where they can strive to do their best. Abenezer enjoys focusing on the topics of economic development, democracy, and human rights and has a strong passion of reading books.

Host Organization: Panorama Global

Role at Host Organization: As a Talent Acquisition Fellow, Abenezer will help Panorama Global source, identify, screen, and hire individuals for a broad range of roles across the organization affiliates. The Fellow’s role includes: inputting the overall hiring strategy of the organization to ensure the teams consist of a diverse set of qualified individuals; ensuring the staffing needs of the company are being met, with a long-term talent strategy in mind; and devising and implementing sourcing strategies to build pipelines of potential applicants, such as employer branding initiatives.

Dorothea Strüber is an Economist by training and graduated in International Economics and Development at the Complutense University of Madrid. She currently works for ClimateView, a climate tech company providing digital solutions for cities in their decarbonization journeys. Prior to joining ClimateView, she worked for six years at the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, a global initiative to unite science for the Sustainable Development Goals. She has extensive knowledge in community building, stakeholder management and engagement, and is passionate about sustainable agriculture and gender equality. She speaks English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Dnyana S is serving as an American India Foundation (AIF) Banyan Impact Fellow with Seba Jagat in Kalahandi, Odisha, in the project of public health. Dnyaneshwar is a first-generation learner. He is a Master’s degree holder in Gender, Culture, and Development. Being critical of the add-and-stir approach to gender, he has written two research papers about media representations of gender, masculinities, and sexualities during his academic career. As an intern, he has worked with adolescent male children from underprivileged communities in Pune on gender sensitization and leadership skills. He has had short-term research experiences with folk artists and young entrepreneurs from Maharashtra. He has worked with men against violence and abuse for a research project on the construction of men and masculinities through different social institutions. He is a former Goonj Urban Fellow, where he worked with different left-out communities in West Bengal and Odisha on various initiatives by Goonj, like health and education. He intends to create safe spaces for people with different gender, sexual, social, and cultural identities. He believes in fluidity and tries to dismantle binaries for the betterment of human rights. He believes in acceptance, awareness, and advocacy for the rights of underprivileged people

Sivakami Prasanna is a social science graduate who aspires to understand how gender intersects with different socio-cultural and economic inequities, aiming to work at the intersection of academia, action research, and policy making. She completed her Bachelor’s in Social Sciences from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and later pursued a Post Graduate Diploma in Liberal Arts from Ashoka University as a Young India Fellow. The writings of Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze in advocating for participatory models for development that focus on the reflective participation and agency of people resonate deeply with her. While working in rural Maharashtra and Kerala, her engagement with communities awoke her to the large gap between policymaking, academia, and ground reality. To further explore this, she interned with the Center for Public Policy Research to understand the nuances of policymaking and its implications while also working with women from rural Ernakulam through Goonj and with migrant laborers through Let’s Reach Out Kerala. A firm believer in the might of the pen, she has published articles on the Rights Collective blog, Café Dissensus, Truecopy Think, Countercurrents, Feminism in India, and the CPPR blog on several issues relating to identity, culture, and social justice. Sivakami is currently a Banyan Impact Fellow, working with India Health Action Trust in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh. She is associated with Project MANCH, which seeks to improve maternal and newborn child healthcare outcomes in Tribal areas of MP.

Samhita Vadapalli is serving as an American India Foundation (AIF) Fellow with Satya Special School, in Puducherry. She is a Biotechnology and Genomics graduate and has completed both a Bachelor of Science, and a Master of Business and Science in Biotechnology from Rutgers University, New Jersey. Her previous work experience has included bioinformatics research, genetic experimentation, and data analysis, where she worked on a wide range of research projects focusing on the karyotyping of embryos, drug target development, and molecular docking simulations. In addition to this, she has served as a tutor with the Petey Greene Program and worked with incarcerated students to help them fulfill their educational goals in New Jersey’s correctional facilities throughout her undergraduate studies. Her area of interest lies in the utilization of data mining and informatics within the public health and developmental sectors for the establishment of improved healthcare interventions and management practices. She firmly believes that scientific innovation must be accompanied by inclusivity and accessibility in order to develop long-term and sustainable solutions to some of the most pressing issues in our world today. Her goal for her career is to partake in the building of healthier societies through innovative biological research and grassroots work.

Silpaa Gunabalan is from Pleasantville, NY, and is serving as an American India Foundation Banyan Impact Fellow in Bengaluru, India. She studied at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York where she majored in Human Biology, Health, and Society with minors in Global Health and Inequality Studies. While at Cornell, she participated in global health research in Moshi, Tanzania where she investigated acute respiratory infection in children under five. Before the fellowship, Silpaa recently worked at a free health clinic in New York City where she spoke with patients to identify the social determinants of health they experience. Silpaa remains passionate about health equity and healthcare promotion through community-based initiatives. She is excited to join the Virtual Leadership Institute to hone her leadership skills and connect with social change professionals around the world.

Zainab Farooq is a HR professional with 8 years of working in a key position at UN WHO. She has also worked in one of the most prestigious universities in Pakistan and writes articles for a well-known Pakistani newspaper. She’s an active social worker and has worked as a volunteer for UNESCO World Heritage in Turkey. Zainab has led many mental health campaigns and runs a website on social issues. She believes that all people have a role to play in this world and we should try to bring positivity to the community.

Nayyar Abbas has participated in foreign academic programs, online leadership courses, internships, and community development activities. He participated in community service with the Rotary Club and arranged events while working as a research associate for the Lucas Economic Society during his junior year of college. He began his professional career as a financial executive for a financial firm, where he offered clients market research and financial understanding. In his second job as a research officer, he developed research procedures and handled data collection. During his Master’s internship, he worked in the Parliamentary Sustainable Development Goals Secretariat in the National Assembly of Pakistan. He assisted with research on Pakistan Vision 2025 (a comprehensive road map to achieve SDGs). He has started volunteering for Students for Liberty. Through this opportunity, he was able to take courses and attend seminars and conferences. At Students for Liberty, he oversees and helps with marketing, research, and communication. By applying for different programs around the world, he successfully secured an opportunity to study the Fund for American Study’s Prague program at Charles University. He was given the Prometheus Fellowship, where he worked with professionals who taught and coached him in professional and leadership abilities. He is the district coordinator at Interactive Research and Development and supervises the implementation and execution of the school-based deworming program in Islamabad. Nayyar loves to travel, read, and meet new people. He is planning to start his Ph.D. in political science in 2023.

Joshua Dilawar is a youth activist from Lahore, Pakistan with over 10 years of experience in humanitarian services, project management, and community development around different thematic areas. He founded the Institute for Social and Youth Development (ISYD), is the National Coordinator of YPEER Pakistan, and also leads the Pakistan Advocacy Network (PAN) and Artivism Academy. Additionally, he is a member of the Strategic Advocacy Committee of PMNCH and the Prime Minister’s National Youth Council. He has performed more than 1500 theater performances and has trained more than 25 theater groups across Pakistan to spread awareness on different thematic areas. In 2022, for the very first time in Pakistan, Joshua initiated and led a project entitled, “Meri Awaz – giving voice to voiceless people,” a project focusing on leadership and reproductive health of deaf and hard-of-hearing young people. In this project, he is building the capacity building of deaf and hard-of-hearing young people around reproductive health. The project established the first-ever comic in Pakistan on gender equality and reproductive health, and animated videos, for the storytelling sessions with the deaf community. Joshua is a social reformer and transformer, who is proactive about addressing social issues. His understanding of social issues, such as gender inequality, human rights, reproductive health, family planning, HIV/AIDS, and climate change, resulted in numerous achievements in the communities where he worked. He has been involved in many projects, campaigns, and movements to empower youth and reduce inequalities leaving no one is left behind.

Muniza Sangal has earned a Bachelor’s degree in Gender Studies from Fatima Jinnah Women University, Pakistan. She has been working social organizer in her community on the capacity building of women and enhancing awareness of menstrual hygiene management and reproductive health. She trained more than 2500 school-going girls on how to make low-cost sanitary napkins at home, as most of the people in her community are from underprivileged families. Since they do not have access to good menstrual hygiene kits and proper health centers, the mortality rate of women is high in her community. She is also providing entrepreneur workshops for women. She envisages that every girls and women in her community live a healthy and prosperous life. She is currently working as a field monitor for NID Vitamin A supplementation in Upper Chitral.

Muhammad Bilal is a seasoned professional with a passion for making a positive impact in the world. With seven successful years of practical experience in the nonprofit sector, he has a deep understanding of the inner workings of organizations that aim to make a difference. As a founder, Muhammad has a strong belief in the power of love and empathy to connect with people and make a real difference in their lives. In addition to his experience in the nonprofit sector, Muhammad also brings a wealth of professional experience to the table. He has spent the last 12 years working in multinational companies, gaining valuable insights into the inner workings of large organizations and honing his skills in areas such as project management and team leadership. With his combination of nonprofit and corporate experience, Muhammad is a valuable asset to any organization looking to make a positive impact in the world.