Kavya Kumar

Age: 22

Home Town: Boston, Massachusetts

Education: B.S. New York University

Specific Field Interests: Health Equity, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Comprehensive Sexual Education, Reproductive Justice, Community Health Systems, Human Rights

Placement: Gram Vikas Trust, Bharuch, Gujarat

Area of Focus: Menstrual health equity, women’s empowerment, social entrepreneurship, and community-driven health interventions.

Fellowship Project: Advancing community-centered menstrual health equity by supporting women-led health systems, integrating SRH education and dismantling SRH stigma. Co-creating culturally-grounded, scalable solutions that foster inclusive and sustainable health equity.

Highlights: Kavya is an emerging leader in global health, committed to advancing health equity in resourcelimited settings. She completed a Bachelor of Science, Summa Cum Laude, in Global Public Health and Media, Culture, and Communication at NYU, reflecting her dedication to understanding and addressing the complex intersections of health, culture, and global socio-economic systems. Kavya’s commitment to community-driven change was evident through her leadership of the Community Care Collective, a student-led initiative focused on mutual aid and environmental conservation within the NYU community. This work exemplifies her ability to create systemic change from the grassroots level. In Buenos Aires, Kavya contributed to research on caregivers' working conditions across Latin America, gaining insight into culturally responsive healthcare and diverse sociopolitical contexts. Similarly, her experience working in France at EIT Health allowed her to collaborate on projects that bridge cultural gaps in healthcare delivery. Kavya’s internship at Enfold Proactive Health Trust in Bangalore, India, profoundly shaped her focus on systemic inequities within health systems, particularly in sexual and reproductive health. She led comprehensive sexual education initiatives in schools and restorative circles for child survivors of sexual violence. This experience solidified her passion for community-based development work, as she witnessed firsthand how sustainable change emerges from centering the voices of those directly affected. She hopes to continue to contribute to sustainable health interventions that center local communities while working towards addressing the urgent need for reproductive justice and sexual health education globally.