Age: 22
Home Town: Herndon, Virginia
Education: B.A Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity, Human Biology, and Islamic Studies at Stanford University
Specific Field Interests: Reproductive Health and Justice, Minority health, Community Based Interventions, Health Equity and Access
Placement: Doctors For You, Mumbai, Maharashtra
Area of Focus: Urban Health, Maternal Fetal Health, Public Health, Primary Care
Fellowship Project: Strengthening hospital and community-based maternal and infant health systems in Eastern Mumbai’s underserved slum and resettlement communities through integrated primary care interventions.
Highlights: Sameeha Khan is committed to advancing community health, ethics, and justice. She is a recent graduate of Stanford University, where she studied Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity, Human Biology, and Islamic Studies. Her senior thesis, "Colonial Histories, Citizenship, and the Resistance of Miya Muslims," examined the histories and lived experiences of Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, India, analyzing how colonial legacies shape exclusion and belonging while highlighting resilience expressed through poetry and protest.
Through Stanford's Haas Center for Public Service, Sameeha received the Advancing Muslim Communities Fellowship and serves as an intern with HEART to Grow, a nonprofit dedicated to sexual and reproductive health education in Muslim communities. As a 2024 International Public Service Fellow, she worked with the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee in Kolkata, West Bengal, contributing to HIV prevention research on pre-exposure prophylaxis among transgender sex workers. In 2023, she received the Abbasi Summer Research Fellowship to study Sufism at the West African Research Center in Dakar and Kaolack, Senegal.
At Stanford, Sameeha served as a research assistant in the Muslim Mental Health and Islamic Psychology Lab, focusing on substance use and addiction in Muslim contexts. She also co-created and led an Alternative Spring Break program in New York City and worked as a Patient Health Navigator at Stanford's Arbor Free Clinic, supporting healthcare access for uninsured patients. Sameeha is eager to serve as an American India Foundation Banyan Impact Fellow with Doctors For You, supporting maternal and infant health initiatives across hospital and community-based care settings in Eastern Mumbai.
