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Arnold School hosting four Fulbright Scholars
May 31, 2011
Zaeem Ul Haq
Naveed Sadiq
Dien Anshari
Amira Osman
The Arnold School is hosting four talented and dedicated students from Pakistan, Indonesia and Israel who are seeking doctoral degrees through the Fulbright Scholarship program.
The Fulbright Program is an international exchange designed to create a mutually beneficial relationship between participant nations. Since its inception in 1946, the program has funded the exchange of more than 300,000 scholars among more than 150 nations.
Approximately 800 scholars and professionals from around the world come to the United States annually through the Fulbright Scholar program.
The visiting Fulbright Scholars at the Arnold School are Zaeem Ul Haq and Naveed Sadiq of Pakistan, Dien Anshari of Indonesia and Amira Osman of Israel. All expect to finish their studies between 2014 - 2015.
Sadiq is seeking a degree from the Department of Health Services Policy and Management while his colleagues are studying in the Department of Health Promotion, Education and Behavior.
They also are dedicated to improving the public health of their homelands where issues of poverty, political unrest, economic uncertainty, chronic diseases and natural disasters tax the skills and best education they can earn at the University of South Carolina.
DIEN ANSHARI
Dien Anshari is resident of Jakarta, his homeland's capital, where is a faculty member at the University of Indonesia teaching basic courses in health communications. It's a job he hopes to resume when he finishes his studies at USC.
As a mentor to future public health professionals, Anshari says his students will be challenged by a combination of the nation's geography and ethnic diversity. "Indonesia is a land of 17,000 islands and 300 different ethnic groups," he said.
The country has abundant natural resources, but has been beset by political unrest, the failure of the economy in 1997 and the after effects of the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed 130,000 people and displaced more than 500,0000 others.
Anshari's mentor at USC is Dr. Jim Thrasher, an HPEB faculty member with a wealth of experience in developing public health campaigns for audiences in other countries.
Anshari is a talented photojournalist, photographer and graphic designer.
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AMIRA OSMAN
Amira Osman said the Arnold School's programs in the study of health disparities will serve her well on her return to Israel where, as a Palestinian, she is a member of an important minority.
As an experienced nurse with a bachelor's degree and a master's in public health from the Hebrew University, Osman could have worked on a doctorate in Israel but decided to take advantage of an excellent opportunity to study and experience life abroad.
Economic, political and cultural conditions combine to influence the health of Palestinians living in Israel, she said. Women in particular are relegated to sedentary lifestyles with little opportunity for work outside the home.
"Conditions are changing," she said, "but it is a very slow process."
Upon returning home, Osman wants to engage in research and field work to promote the health of the Palestinian community, specifically women, and to teach in an academic institution.
NAVEED SADIQ
With a degree in public health and another in oral and dental health from the Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar, and the University of Peshawar respectively, Naveed Sadiq had already embarked on a successful career.
Dentistry is a wonderful profession, he said, but at this stage in his life, he wanted a career change due to clinical experiences in the field of dentistry. He felt that health policy plays a major role in the improvement of health and without a clear policy and management targets cannot be achieved. He finds an opportunity through a doctorate in public health as a teacher and a researcher to work for the greater good of his countrymen and to shape health care policy on his return home.
"I think that the oral health policy will improve the oral health of the population said Sadiq, who recently was on a team that took first place in a competition sponsored by the U.S. State Department (see related article on the Arnold School Web page).
ZAEEM UL HAQ
As a busy pediatrician, Zaeem Ul Haq wondered what was going wrong when so many of his patients kept coming back to his office with the same complaints. After analyzing the problem, he determined that his patients' lifestyles and their home environments were largely at fault.
"That led me in the direction of studying behaviors, and how we can change them," he said.
Haq expects to finish his doctorate in 2014 and return home to do research and teach at the Health Services Academy, Pakistan's top public health school based in Islamabad.
While studying here, Haq is working to create a collaborative partnership between USC and the Health Services Academy in his home land. The goal is for both schools to be able to exchange students and faculty members, he said.
