For my final summer, I sought to identify a project that would serve as a culmination of my overall experiences with the James Graham Brown Fellows Program and my education, leadership, and involvement at the University of Louisville as well as initiate the beginning of a path for the future. Reflecting over my time, my travels, and the lessons I’ve learned, I finally selected two general but conclusive ideas: education and advocacy. Studying abroad in Spain and interning at Hope for Future Generations, a non-governmental organization focused in the field of Public Health, in Ajumako, Ghana both fully encompassed these ideas, as did the rest of my collegiate experience. Upon reaching this understanding, I was able to pursue this summer’s enrichment opportunity. My project was divided into halves: the first half was spent working as a Resident Advisor and Seminar Instructor for the Governor’s Scholars Program, and the second was spent researching for a health literacy initiative that I had begun at the Kentucky Racing Health Services Clinic and volunteering with the Exploited Children’s Help Organization. All three of these organizations have differing missions and benefit diverse populations but they all have one important feature in common: all three have brought me one step closer to achieving my vision, a doctor and health care provider who teaches and advocates for her patients, her community, and the greater global community so that they may be more well-informed, healthy, and involved citizens. Discovering this vision has helped guide and focus my career aspirations. In the upcoming year, I will be applying for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Nepal in addition to dual-degree programs, designed for students pursuing both a Masters in Public Health and a Doctorate in Medicine. The opportunities that I enjoyed this summer were vital to my future plans and growth as an individual.

1. Naseem Ansari, James Graham Brown Fellows Class of 2013
O
Biography, Experiences, Past Kentucky Racing Health Services
Projects
Currently, I m a senior at the University of Louisville, pursuing degrees in Clinic: Health Literacy Research
both Biology and Political Science and minors in Spanish and Latin American
Studies. Along with my involvement in the Brown Fellows Program, I serve on the Objectives: Identify needs in health literacy literature and establish a better system of
Executive Board for the University of Louisville s Dance Marathon, have been instruction for the University of Louisville students that provide translation services.
elected to offices in the Student Government Association including Senator for the
Purposes: Bilingual or only Spanish-speaking patients at the clinic fail to understand
College of Arts and Sciences and Senior Council Representative, and work as a
the current health literature due to its sophisticated text and lack of visual aids. These
Cardinal Host for the President s Office.
patients do not always completely understand basic health instruction and sometimes
Over the past few summers, I have improved my Spanish conversational feel less than comfortable asking translators or nurse practitioners for explanations.
abilities and cultural knowledge while studying in Spain and most recently, interned
at a non-governmental organization called Hope for Future Generations focused in Translators did not have the background knowledge to be able to ask appropriate
questions for diagnostic analysis. In many cases, translators were also unfamiliar both
the field of Public Health. My work with Hope for Future Generations was specifically
targeted toward successful implementation of two grant projects, the Behavior
Change Support Program, funded by Johns Hopkins University and the Small Child
with the lifestyle and work environment of a backside employee and the medically-
based Spanish terminology necessary to effectively communicate with patients. Governor s Scholars Program:
Survival Initiative, established by SIMAVI, in Sweden. Resident Advisor & Seminar Instructor
Objectives: Gain a better understanding of the obstacles challenging future leaders, help
them become politically and socially well-informed citizens, and develop my ability to
educate others constructively, yet impartially.
Purpose: The Governor s Scholars Program tests your ability to think critically, overcome
stereotypes, embrace individuality, communicate effectively, and rise above fear of the
unknown.
Synopsis: My experience at the Governor s Scholars program can be explained in several
Life and Work at Churchill Downs
words: six weeks, friendships, growth, and community. In a whirlwind, you are forced into
Background: The Kentucky Racing Health Services Clinic, funded by the Kentucky several demanding roles, each difficult to fill: a teacher, an authority figure, friend, and
Racing Health and Welfare Fund, is a non-profit facility that is a result of the working above all, a role model.
Left: Segovia, Spain and Right: Ajumako, Ghana
collaboration between the University of Louisville and the fund to provide health care Through this program, I taught classes on leadership, teamwork, service, and stereotypes,
services to the backside workers of the Kentucky racing industry. lead discussions on many controversial political, social, and legal issues, performed in a
live comedy skit that I co-scripted, and sponsored a knitting club and swing dancing club.
Specifically, the clinic offers its services and benefits to backside workers and their
families for off-the-job injuries and illnesses that are not otherwise covered by worker s Most importantly, I learned how to command a room, understand misperceptions, and teach
compensation, welfare plans, social security, military benefits or any other type of others to embrace differences and lead passion filled lives.
Project Proposal & Goals: health insurance.
Wanting to bring my knowledge gained abroad in language and health literacy The clinic, in 2011 alone, managed to provide free treatment and medical services to
1,318 patients. Since the clinic opened in 1978, backside workers and their families
Exploited Children s Help Organization
to communities in the United States, I sought to immerse myself in three organizations
that would all contribute to my greater aspiration of learning how to successfully educate have received over $34.5 million in benefits, Objectives: Understand the world of domestic and child abuse and its overarching
others, whether that be in issues relating to health care, politics, human rights, or violence, learn to communicate with victims of abuse and violence, and address their
leadership. needs appropriately.
Already having volunteered and completed an internship at the Kentucky Purpose: Encountering victims of domestic and child abuse both abroad and in service
Racing Health Services Clinic, I decided that I wanted to pursue a research project that efforts in my own community, I felt it necessary to address my inability to help, understand,
would ultimately provide better dual-language health literacy literature to aid patients advocate, or educate this population, related to the context of health care and beyond.
and present a guidebook for future translators. Translators at the Kentucky Racing
Health Services Clinic allow daily operations to be completed, and their cultural, Synopsis: I have undergone training and begun volunteering weekly for this organization.
linguistic knowledge is essential to the clinic s success. My efforts are spent with the Kids Safe Booth initiative, the Teaching the Importance of
I sought to influence future leaders in Kentucky by applying to serve as a Personal Safety Program and inside the Family Court Playroom, which are all programs
Resident Advisor and Seminar Instructor for the Governor s Scholars Program. This either dedicated to the prevention of abuse or education and nurturing to those children
position demanded a permanent role model, a teacher, and well-educated citizen. that have already suffered.
Lastly, through work in the community and abroad, I had also encountered
many cases of domestic abuse and been ill-prepared for the challenges that faced me
with patients or students suffering from physical or verbal mistreatment. Therefore, I
decided to begin investing time into an organization that would teach me how to engage
Intended Vision, Future Ambitions
and handle such situations. Thus, began my volunteer work with the Exploited Beginning my fourth year as a student in the Brown Fellows Program, I easily admit
Children s Help Organization. that who I am, my career aspirations, and lifelong ambitions are different from those I had in
Synopsis: Applying the past year s worth of volunteer experience to my research and
the summer of 2009. I went from thinking I might wanted to practice medicine to entertaining
interviews with patients regarding needs for more in depth and accessible literature,
dreams of becoming multi-lingual, a diplomat, a NGO founder, to finally, a path that has
I ve begun developing brochures on simple nutrition with the help of a mentor in the
encompassed all of these ideas, although modestly.
Health Promotions Department at the University of Louisville.
Unless my path changes its course again, I will pursue a Fulbright English Teaching
I have also been able to locate better language translation texts for translators and
Assistantship in either Nepal of Indonesia in the following year, investigating health and
nurse practitioners and have pieced together a preliminary instruction manual for all
human rights oriented community projects during my spare time. Ultimately, I hope to return
future translators citing useful slang terminology, Hispanic cultural tendencies that bear
to pursue a dual-degree in Masters of Public Health and Doctor of Medicine.
weight on their clinical treatment and general well-being, and a
thorough background on the racing industry. This summer taught me a new skill, research, and given me invaluable experience
in education and advocacy work. After all, in the field of healthcare, a doctor is a teacher and
To my surprise, much of my research has led me to the understanding that the most
an advocate for students and patients, and more so for her community.
simple tutorials are the most needed, such as those that explain the differences
Teaching the Importance of Personal Safety, ECHO between complex and simple sugars.