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Alumni

Marwah Shahid


Class of: 2013
Hometown: Brentwood, TN
School: Arts and Science
Major(s): Medicine, Health & Society
Minors(s): Spanish

During high school, Marwah had the opportunity to begin exploring social responsibility by dedicating a significant portion of her time toward civic engagement in her local and global community. As President of Habitat for Humanity and her Senior Class, Marwah found a passion for serving in a multitude of different capacities from building homes to working in hospitals and hospice centers. Her biggest contribution during high school was starting Cradle4Kids, a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating change and educating children in third world countries. With the generous support of her community, Marwah has raised over $30,000 for a medical dispensary in Pakistan, extending it to include a hostel for girls.

Humbled to be an Ingram Scholar, Marwah continues to combine her passions for a career in medicine with an innate desire to advocate for female empowerment and global health. At Vanderbilt, Marwah has been most involved in service through Global Poverty Initiative, an umbrella organization dedicated to addressing and alleviating all aspects of poverty, and helped spearhead the Dores for Pakistan campaign to raise awareness and donations for the 2010 floods. 

During her first Ingram summer project, Marwah created a Diabetic Retinopathy Education and Awareness program for nursing homes in Middle Tennessee in partnership with Meharry Medical College. For her second summer project, Marwah completed a Faculty Fellows project with Courtney Muse, Assistant Director of the Department of Medicine, Health, and Society. Building on her past relationship with Meharry, Marwah studied the business models of various student-run medical clinics around the US through literature reviews and field work and helped develop the 12 South Community Clinic, a Meharry Medical College student-run free clinic, in Nasville, TN. 

For her final year at Vanderbilt, Marwah will be working on the Metro Mobile Clinic, a student-run free mobile clinic she created this past year. Marwah plans to complete her upcoming Ingram Senior Internship with the Schermerhorn Symphony Center and Blood: Water Mission. The clinic aims to address health disparities in Nashville by offering basic care to residents in four different areas of Nashville. Reflecting on her past three years at Vanderbilt, Marwah attributes her growth to her interactions through the Ingram Scholarship Program. Looking towards the future, Marwah is continually seeking to redefine service through appreciative inquiry and balancing her future career choice of medicine with her desire to be a grassroots agent of change in her community.