Global Health Institute

Amara Saleem (SFS’26) is an undergraduate at the Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service majoring in science, technology, and international affairs and minoring in Spanish. After graduation, Amara hopes to apply to medical school and eventually pursue a career at the intersection of medicine and policy. Currently, Amara is a biostatistics research assistant for Professor Christopher Loffredo, working on analysis of data from expecting mothers exposed to environmental toxins in Slovakia. Through this research, Amara has learned how socioeconomic inequality, stigma, and identity impact health care outcomes for women. Her South Asian identity and coursework in South Asian history have also reinforced her awareness that issues of women’s health care accessibility and stigma are particularly acute in Indian and Pakistani populations. As the 2024-2025 Maeve McKean Global Health Fellow, Amara hopes to research how differentiated access to health care impacts the treatment of gestational diabetes among South Asian women.