SESP senior headed to California for health fellowship
The Office of Fellowships is pleased to announce that Samira Asseh (SESP ’22) has been chosen for the 2022–2023 cohort of the Project Horseshoe Farm Fellowship! Next year, Samira will serve as a fellow in Pomona, California.
Samira is a 2022 graduate from Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, who is now based in Georgia and majored in human development and psychological services. As an undergraduate, Samira worked as a research assistant at Foundation of Health Research, which is dedicated to advancing research that elevates understanding and informs change about health disparities. As the operations manager of CURE (Competition for Undergraduate Regenerative Engineering), Samira works as a research assistant, scheduling appointments with potential participants, entering participant data, isolating blood samples in the wet lab, and sending out the necessary mail and emails to participants.
With interests in health disparity and access to healthcare, Samira also served as an intern at Lurie Children's Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, where they conducted outreach to nearby schools, churches, and community events to inform residents of the clinic’s free STI testing services; edited and revised the sexual education curriculum for Chicago Public Schools to ensure that the material was accurate and inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities; and facilitated online workshops teaching high schoolers who were interested in medical topics, including puberty, sexual health, contraceptives, and substance abuse prevention. Outside of their coursework, Samira was a member of the Afrothunda dance troupe and an ESL tutor at Centro Romero.
Samira is excited for the opportunity the fellowship offers to immerse in the local community and engage in work and service that directly benefits them. After their time with Project Horseshoe Farm, Samira hopes to matriculate in medical school.
Samira is Northwestern’s eighth recipient of the Project Horseshoe Farm Fellowship and will be the first fellow placed in Pomona. Catherine Chen (McCormick '21) won the fellowship last year and was preceded by Pooja Kanthawar (SESP '17) and Mary Stoa (WCAS '20) in 2020. In 2018, Priya Garigipata (WCAS ’17) joined the cohort, while Timothy Huang (WCAS ’17) and Kevin Wang (WCAS ’17) were selected in 2017. In 2016, Rafa Ifthikar (WCAS ’16) was the first Northwestern graduate chosen for the program.
Contact Jason Kelly Roberts at jason-roberts@northwestern.edu to learn more about the Project Horseshoe Farm Fellowship.