|
Dr. Eefa Tabassum's Profile
Eefa Tabassum is a Master’s of Public Health graduate of Johns Hopkins University with a concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics. Her Capstone project dealt with a logistic regression model analyzing the predictors of ‘missingness’ in a malaria survey - the segments of the population and the geographical areas in which they were more likely to be absent during the survey, all important to understand as the surveys are instrumental in formulation of wide-scale malaria control policies.
While in the U.S., she was a Research Assistant at the Center for AIDS Research at Johns Hopkins Hospital, engaging with the community to link individuals with hepatitis and HIV to care and counseling them to positively impact health behaviors through safe practices.
Eefa is passionate about volunteer work and community engagement with underserved populations.
Abstract
Oral Narratives: Chronicles of Fulbright and Humphrey Alumni Through the Decades
This September, we began a journey photographing and interviewing Fulbright and Humphrey alumni in Pakistan. Our aim was to start with alumni who received grants when the exchange programs were launched for students and scholars in the country. Many are now at the apex of their fields. These grantees include scientists, engineers and vice chancellors. We scouted individuals who traveled to the U.S. between 1960 to 1990 and were even fortunate to find alumni from the 1950 batch. We hope to chart their journeys, their rewarding Fulbright and Humphrey experiences, in a photographic interview and how it benefited them several decades later. The stories will also highlight their personal journeys, triumphs and tribulations during their studies in the U.S., their perspectives and hopes for Pakistan then, and their contributions to Pakistan to date. We wish to make it a somewhat oral history project, to collect, preserve and record their experiences from when the world was a fairly different place.
We feel that this project will benefit the global Fulbright and Humphrey community immensely. It will bring to light the struggles and accomplishments faced by alumni and we hope to share their stories across Pakistan and beyond. Through our participation in the Fulbright program, we have experienced for ourselves how incredibly talented and diverse Pakistani scholars and professionals are. By featuring their stories on social media platforms like Facebook, we hope these beautiful stories, intertwined with interesting narratives will reach global audiences and influence all Pakistanis to work for a better tomorrow for themselves, their country and our world.
Our ultimate aim, is to publish this work in the form of a book. Vaqas hopes it will help him when he finally launches his hobby of photography as a second career. Conversely, Eefa – a graduate of Johns Hopkins University – who happens to be an avid storyteller herself and a big fan of the National Public Radio regular story telling sessions with classmates, hopes that such institutionalized oral storytelling can have powerful benefits by promoting community engagement, fostering dialog, empathy and understanding.
This abstract is a joint submission by panelists, Mr. Vaqas Arshad and Dr. Eefa Tabassum.
|
