Culture & Health Equity Scholars: Students highlight innovative ideas on cultural justice leadership 

“In an era marked with nationwide erosion of academic freedom and politicized pushback against health equity and justice, students in my course are pushing against the grain to provide a glimpse of hope around cultural-justice leadership,” shares Ans Irfan, MD, EdD, DrPH, ScD, MPH, MRPL. In the course this semester, PM525 Culture and Health: Global Perspectives, students are completing applied projects focused on creating innovative, upstream solutions rooted in cultural-justice, to tackle global health inequities.

“In these challenging times where we see years of public health equity progress being squandered away and public health leadership retracting, it is critical to make space for the emerging public health leaders and their ideas,” explains Irfan.

In their latest assignment, ‘Global Health Equity & Cultural Justice Case Study’, students collaborated to systematically identify challenges faced by historically marginalized communities to produce bold solutions developed through a cultural-justice lens to address these inequities.

Students worked on projects to operationalize and tackle systems of oppression such as structural racism, patriarchy, militarism, settler colonialism, and more across several communities in the United States and abroad.

Teams received a Culture & Health Equity Scholar designation to mark their innovativeness. “I am delighted to share that their projects represent profound counter-narratives to the national trends against equity and justice, which fills me with hope,” Irfan shares.

These projects are also a testament to our departmental commitment to teach excellence and align with USC’s mission statement of ‘excellence in teaching knowledge and skills to our students, while at the same time helping them to acquire wisdom and insight, love of truth and beauty, moral discernment, understanding of self, and respect and appreciation for others.”

“I am enormously proud of my students, and invite you to read the highlights of the projects,” says Irfan.

See the student projects

Reducing Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Rates Amongst non-White Women in Texas

Student Scholars: Re Zaw, Alejandra Valenzuela, Bashir Alizada, Karla Mae Baronia

Racism and Social Injustice as Determinants of Black Children’s Health

Student Scholars: Anita Robertson, Catherine Potin, Ricardo Hernandez Arango

Nutrition Inequities in Indigenous Communities in the United States

Student Scholars: Apoorva Vishwanath, Jacqueline Munoz, Mehaly Bekele, Amanda Williams

Breaking Taboos: Reducing Stigma and Enhancing Reproductive Health Services

Student Scholars: Shamim Jhimlee, Sheil Choksi, Sehar Dedmari, Monica Bui, Vanessa Casas

Native American Health & Cultural Justice: Oglala Lakota Nation

Student Scholars: Aakanksha Khadye, Hanna Hondzo, Krissy Rector, Olivia Kelly, Daphne Mutchler

Mi Cuerpo es Mi Mundo: Addressing Sexual and Reproductive Health Inequities in Latin America

Student Scholars: Arina Megerdichian, Iris Martinez, Lily Shkhyan, Pallavi Saharia

Empowering Rohingya Resilience: A Holistic Approach to Health Equity and Cultural Justice in the United States

Student Scholars: Aspen Jones, Jennifer Penaloza, Marilyn Soliven Martinez, Tony (Yu) Tang

Global Health Equity & Cultural Justice in the Asian Immigrant Population in L.A County

Student Scholars: Caitlin Fisher, Julie Hughes, Maya Makarem, Rozhin Lak, Sara Okour