she/her/hers

Noor Badri is a recent graduate from the University of California, San Diego. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Global Health with a minor in Human Rights and Migration. Originating from Sudan, Noor’s dual Sudanese-American heritage has enriched her with a profound cultural insight into both the global North and South. At UC San Diego, Noor held various leadership positions in many organizations including the Student Promoted Access Center for Education & Service, the Muslim Student Association, the Sudanese Student Association, and served as an ambassador for the University of California Global Health Institute. Noor’s professional journey includes serving remotely as a public health intern at Training, Research, Education for Driving Safety at UC San Diego School of Medicine, significantly contributing to driving safety initiatives as well as working as a lab intern at UCSD’s Displacement and Health Research Lab studying the Arab-refugee population in San Diego. She was also involved with the local refugee youth community in San Diego vis-a-vis the Majdal Center mentorship which she founded and directed. Noor aspires to work for organizations dedicated to health equity that view health as a human right. In her own life, Noor is very outspoken about global socio-political issues, often attending protests. She is deeply interested in working with under-served and marginalized communities in the global south that experience the repercussions of colonialism, climate change, and displacement. Following the Princeton in Africa fellowship, Noor plans to attend graduate school and receive a Master’s in Public Health before formally entering the workforce.

Metasebiya is a global health trainee who is passionate about public health research, community service, and cross-cultural engagement. Metasebiya holds a dual degree from Duke University and Duke Kunshan University in Global Health and Biology. In her home country, Ethiopia, Metasebiya regularly volunteers at the Southern Branch of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society and was part of the emergency response team, assisting their disaster aid relief for internally displaced people and their COVID-19 outreach program. She also led the Ethiopian wing of a Columbia University global study on the globalizability of temporal discounting and the association between financial decision making and economic inequality. For her capstone thesis, she is conducting mixed-method research on the coping strategies of and the mental distress among people displaced by conflict in the Konso zone of Ethiopia, for which she received two institutional grants. In her home university, Duke Kunshan, Metasebiya serves as a resident assistant, building a multinational community of students and providing mentorship and support. She works as a lead teacher for the Medical English Program, a student-led initiative in China that helps medical doctors practice English. She also worked as an intern in her home university’s Global Health Research Center where she researched non-communicable diseases and aging in China. As a research assistant at her university’s Health Values Lab, she researches metrics used to quantify health, their empirical shortcomings and the ethical issues associated with using them to guide health policies.

Kamila is originally from Uzbekistan and at the age of 6, her family immigrated to Queens, New York City. Kamila graduated from Princeton University in May 2021 with a degree in medical anthropology and a minor in global health and health policy. While at Princeton, she focused on studying infectious diseases in low-resource settings. This interest first developed during her study abroad program in India, after her first year. Her experience in Sonipat, India was formative and pushed her to explore the understanding of care in low-resource environments. Kamila has interned at Zithulele Hospital on the Eastern Cape of South Africa in a tuberculosis research study. There, she conducted quantitative research on the diagnoses and outcomes of tuberculosis patients and witnessed the burdens of infectious disease on the well-being of the Xhosa population. Additionally, she worked with researchers at the University of Malaya to conduct qualitative research trying to understand consistent condom usage in intimate partners of HIV-positive men who inject drugs, one of the country’s most vulnerable groups. Kamila wrote her senior thesis on the syndemic relationship between Covid-19 and tuberculosis on the Eastern Cape of South Africa. On campus, Kamila was a leader trainer and Wilderness First Aid instructor and coordinator for one of the largest outdoor action orientation programs in the country and works closely alongside the directors to update curriculum and developmental leadership goals. She is excited to continue working in public health and low-resource care as a Princeton in Africa Fellow Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative.

Carolyn grew up in New York and double majored in Neuroscience & Behavior and Italian Studies at Columbia University. While in school, Carolyn developed a keen interest for healthcare advocacy through her research and volunteering. At Columbia’s Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, she studied how health disparities and sociocultural factors affect the aging of diverse individuals living in New York City’s Washington Heights. Over the years, Carolyn has committed herself to maintaining a community-oriented focus by participating in various outreach opportunities; she has worked as a support counselor, first aid instructor, and Emergency Medical Technician, developing her skills in active listening and crisis management. She served as president of Columbia University’s chapter of Global Brigades, fundraising for and organizing a brigade to Honduras that provided medical resources, health education, and sanitation facilities to underserved communities. Carolyn currently works with the Cancer Outcomes Research and Education Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she implements supportive care interventions focused on improving quality of life, coping strategies, and patient empowerment via informed decision-making. While working with Young 1ove next year, Carolyn hopes to help similarly empower young people in Botswana regarding their health and education. She feels grateful for the opportunity to learn more about responsible engagement and sustainable development in a global health context, and is excited to engage with Botswanan culture, meet new people, and learn Setswana.

Livia graduated with honors and distinction in politics and a minor in history from the University of the South (Sewanee), where she was also part of the pre-public health program. Her family is from Italy and Tunisia, and she grew up in Italy and the UK. While at Sewanee, Livia served on the Executive Board of the Bairnwick Women’s Center, a student-led organization focused on social justice issues related to gender, intersectionality, and access to sexual health and education, and as a Newman Civic Fellow, where she was able to explore her passions for gender equality and equitable health access for marginalized groups. While in college, Livia was lucky to spend one semester studying at the University of Ghana in Accra, where she also completed an internship at AfricaLead, a USAID program focused on strengthening food security and agribusiness, and conducted independent research on civil society advocacy for gender quotas in the Ghanaian parliament. She also interned at the Makerere University-Johns Hopkins University Research Collaboration on AIDS in Kampala, Uganda where she supported programming for adolescents living with HIV. She is excited to continue working in public health and youth development on the African continent as a Princeton in Africa Fellow with the Botswana-Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative.

Sarah Rooney is a 24-year-old from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who studied Culture and Politics and African Studies at Georgetown University. She took her study of African issues to Tanzania, where she studied Community Development and Women’s Studies for a semester at Ruaha Catholic University in Iringa, and conducted a research project on women’s views towards sexual health education in Ikaning’ombe, Mufindi District. While at Georgetown, she created and managed a Sexual Assault Prevention Education (SAPE) program for the on-campus student-run nonprofit of 400 employees, served as a communications and outreach intern for the Correspondence Department of the Obama Administration, and worked on curricula development and database management while interning for Human Rights Campaign. She received a Community Service Award in 2017 for her work on the SAPE program. Following her graduation in 2017, Sarah became an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer with a small nonprofit called Fair Chance, which provides free capacity building for community-based youth organizations in Washington, DC. At Fair Chance, Sarah conducted outreach and organized workshops for nonprofit Executive Directors. Meanwhile, she volunteered with the community organizing nonprofit, ONE DC, where she organized low-income tenants around a right to decent housing and planned a local artist-focused fundraising event that brought in $125,000 to the organization for the creation of a new community center. In her spare time, Sarah loves to play soccer, paint, listen to music, meditate, and garden. Sarah is a passionate individual who plans to dedicate her life supporting organizations and movements working towards equality and justice.

Born in Tucson, Arizona and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Amy graduated from New York University with a degree in Global Public Health and Anthropology. Amy grew up frequently moving between the two countries and attending numerous public and private schools. Experiencing a clash of cultures and different education systems, Amy became interested in the intersection of culture, education, and health. During her time in New York, she interned at HealthRight International, a global health and human rights NGO, where she took part in developing a ‘Reproductive Health and Human Rights’ online course. She also volunteered to teach teenagers to make healthy choices in public high schools in low-income communities. She studied abroad in Ghana and wrote a case study report about Ghana’s mental health system during her internship at KEBA Africa, highlighting the impact of policy and culture on health and education of abandoned children living in Accra Psychiatric Hospital. She also volunteered at a community-based organization where she developed and implemented a reproductive and sexual health curriculum at schools in urban slum areas. She hopes to continue serving underserved and marginalized populations, and one day see Africa lead the highest standard of healthcare and education.

Winnie (Eron) Godi was born in Kampala, Uganda and resettled in the United States with her immediate family in 1998. She graduated with honors, receiving degrees in both International Relations and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies with a minor in Peace and Global Studies from Augsburg University. As President of the Augsburg Pan-Afrikan Student Union she created spaces deconstructing misogynoir and established a platform for black youth and women of color. Winnie was an Augsburg LEAD Scholar, Norway Peace Scholar, and 2017 Student Commencement Speaker. She was awarded 2017 Outstanding Senior Leader of the Year and was inducted into the 2nd annual Augsburg Senior Leadership Society. After graduating, Winnie served as a Community Partnership Specialist at Girl Scouts River Valleys, providing inclusive programming to over 200 girls of color. She was appointed by Governor Mark Dayton to the third cohort of the WFMN Young Women’s Cabinet of Minnesota, working closely with 24 other members to create and advance opportunities for young women in Minnesota. Over the past year, Winnie worked as a Kindergarten Teacher at Sabis International School in Nairobi, Kenya, challenging her students to explore non-traditional fields and is excited to continue a career in education in southern Africa.

Alumni Update:

Walter is currently living in Philadelphia, and just began a position as a Program Coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. Previously, he was Princeton in Africa’s Program Coordinator for over 3 years!

Fellow Bio:

Walter graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in International Politics and a certificate in African Studies.  During his time at Georgetown, he studied international institutions, African affairs, and education. His undergraduate thesis was on innovative education programs in Kenya.  Walter spent the fall of his junior year studying in Strasbourg, France.  He has also spent time abroad interning in Rwanda at a university program called Kepler Kigali, where he assisted faculty and staff, supported programming for extracurricular activities, and mentored and tutored students.  Walter has worked in Washington, D.C. as an International Programs intern at the Corporate Council on Africa and a Youth Programs intern at the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.  Additionally, at Georgetown, Walter worked on the logistics committee for the school’s Africa Business Conference and served as a Peer Advisor to freshmen at the School of Foreign Service.  He was selected as a Global Curriculum Fellow by the D.C. Public Schools Department of Global Education; through this fellowship, he assisted in designing an African Studies course for high school students.  Walter will be working as the Geography Teaching Fellow at Maru-a-Pula school in Gaborone, Botswana. 

Tabitha graduated from Princeton University with an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology major and a Korean Language and Culture minor. She is originally from Nungua, Ghana but grew up in New Jersey and speaks Ga, Spanish, Korean, and English. Broadly, she is interested in access to healthcare and education. While at Princeton, she served as an Advising Fellow and Head Advising Fellow for a non-profit called Matriculate where she coached high-achieving low-income and first generation high school seniors through the college application process. She has also volunteered at JFK Medical Center and shadowed at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Tabitha is also interested in the effects of environmental toxins on health and completed a Senior Thesis about the role that mercury exposure can play on gene expression. She is very excited about her work as a Program and Operations Fellow at Young 1ove in Botswana where she can put to use her interests in healthcare and access to education while also learning about Setswana language and culture!