Nina Gummadi, a third-year medical student at Boston
University School of Medicine (BUSM), has received a Fulbright Scholar Award to
India. A Fulbright Scholar Award is one of the highest honors the federal
government gives with regard to scholarship and international exchange.
Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic or
professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their
fields. Born and raised in the metro Atlanta area until she was 10, Gummadi moved
to India, living with her grandparents and siblings until she was 14. She then
returned to Georgia to attend high school. Her four years in India were
critical to her decision to pursue a Fulbright and spend a year in her parents'
homeland.
Gummadi attended Boston University and received her
undergraduate degree in medical sciences with a minor in anthropology. While
interning at the Access Campaign at Doctors without Borders in Geneva,
Switzerland, Gummadi was inspired by the global advocacy efforts for equitable
health systems. As a medical student, she has served as a student leader for
the Pediatrics Education & Development Society and PumpStart, a service
learning group that teaches community CPR to Boston's high school students. In
addition, Gummadi was the founder of the service learning branch of CALM
(Cuddling Assists in Lowering Maternal and Infant Stress) a project to provide
non-pharmacological care to infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome when
caregivers are unavailable. Gummadi is also the BUSM delegate to the American
Academy of Pediatrics Section on Pediatrics Trainees.
Her Fulbright research aims to characterize mental health
issues, as well as barriers to mental health care, in orphaned or otherwise
abandoned children in India. The project will provide a basis on which
screening protocols and interventions can be created for this at-risk
population.
As part of her project, Gummadi has partnered with HEAL
(Health and Education for All), a community organization that provides shelter,
healthcare, education and support to underserved children in South India. The
organization runs an orphanage that cares for more than over 1,000 children in
the village of Thotapalli, where Gummadi will stay and complete her Fulbright
research.
The Fulbright Program aims to increase mutual understanding
between the people of the U.S. and other countries, and it is the flagship
international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government.
Since its beginnings in 1946, more than 360,000 Fulbrighters have participated
in the Program, of whom a great number has resumed high leadership positions at
university, state, community and industry levels.
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