Zoha Mian

Zoha is an M4 at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. As a future physician eager to dismantle health disparities on a global scale, she is currently getting her Masters in Public Eye Care at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on a scholarship from the Rotary Foundation. She is passionate about providing healthcare access to underserved communities and hopes to practice medicine through a social justice lens. Her goals as a physician include advocating for increased access to healthcare for marginalized communities, building high-quality healthcare infrastructure and reforming healthcare policies.

What does the Kean Fellowship mean to you?
This fellowship was a stepping stone to my future career as a global health professional. I learned how to navigate the global health space and discover some of the challenges that come with this kind of work. The strong relationships I have built will last me a lifetime, and I plan to continue to work with the overseas institution to continue developing its global eye health program. My main goal is to expand their corneal transplant program, create a cornea eye bank on site, and establish a proper corneal fellowship. 

What do you anticipate learning?
This fellowship helped me learn how to build a research project from the ground up. I learned how to develop and submit a research protocol for ethics in different countries. I also learned how to do different kinds of data analysis, as this is my first time doing a proper qualitative study and analysis. I also learned some of the challenges faced by low-middle income countries, such as lack of resources, and lack of access. 

What interests you about tropical medicine and what problems are you interested in solving?Unfortunately, most of the countries considered tropical are also low middle income countries. I am interested in helping the most vulnerable and marginalized in our society and world. I aim to build sustainable health care infrastructure and increase access to treatment and medicine through both increased resources and human personnel. My overall aim is to eradicate preventable blindness and help everyone reach their full potential.