Alumni
 |
Naeha Haridasa
|
Naeha Haridasa is a senior in the College of Arts and Science majoring in Neuroscience and Medicine, Health & Society. Naeha developed an interest in social service early on as she volunteered with a variety of organizations including the South Asian Heart Center, Paralympics, Teen Awareness Program and One-In-Math during her high school years. Her high school career culminated in her being awarded the Brother Eamon Schaffer C.S.C. award at Saint Francis High School for over 400 hours of service during her four years.
Upon entering Vanderbilt, Naeha’s service interests began to develop into long lasting partnerships as she discovered a passion for issues related to education and healthcare inequity. As a board member of PENCIL Projects for 3 years, she worked with local Metro Nashville Public Schools to establish a series of after-school math tutoring programs to enable lower-income children to succeed more in school. In healthcare, Naeha began to work as a medical volunteer in Vanderbilt Shade Tree Clinic, as refugee health advisor for Siloam Family Health Center, and in the Vanderbilt Medical Center as a post-surgery recovery assistant in the pediatric surgery unit. In her sophomore and juniors years, she also organized and directed a South Asian dance competition to help raise funds and awareness for Project RISHI, a nonprofit dedicated to community development projects in India. Her experiences working with directly with disadvantaged and vulnerable populations pushed her to think critically about systemic societal issues and effective intervention strategies. Alongside volunteering in the Nashville community, Naeha also joined the Vanderbilt Sickle Cell Clinic as an undergraduate researcher to work on clinical research projects aimed at health educational resources and opportunities for the families and children of the clinic.
Naeha’s experience with community service culminated during her two Ingram Summer Projects in 2016 and 2017. For her first project, Naeha worked with Next Step, an American non-profit dedicated to providing psychosocial therapy and skills-based programming for youth and young adults with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. Her summer project involved using research on psychosocial functioning to develop narrative-based strategies to help youth with chronic illnesses learn to cope with their experiences. For her second project, Naeha traveled to Muhuru Bay, Kenya to conduct field research on the presentation and treatment of sickle cell disease for Mama Maria Hospital and Clinic. During her time, she created a medical home visit model to conduct complete patient physicals, document family and medical history, and developed recommendations for treatment, disease management and nutrition. These experiences have given her a nuanced understanding of illness and disease and empowered her to pursue a career in medicine. Naeha is incredibly grateful to Vanderbilt University and the Ingram Scholarship Program for the opportunity to continue nurturing her passion for social justice and community development through her undergraduate years.