May 2023

Dear Readers,

We are excited to share that the 2023 AFP Fellowship program has officially started! Before we introduce the fellows of this year we would like to walk you through the mission of this program and its continued success over the years.

The Fellowship Program has been one of our marquee annual programs since 2017. It was designed to provide a bridge for the young Pakistani Americans who have grown up and live in the US, but have a deep curiosity and yearning for their Pakistani roots. The APF Fellowship Program was started to offer an avenue to these individuals to immerse in their culture of origin, while leaving an impact on the local Pakistani communities they work with.

The APF Fellowship Program connects capable American Pakistanis with our partner organizations that are working in or on Pakistan, for a summer program. APF fellows get an opportunity to work with and learn from these organizations and help them make an impact on the ground. The program leaves the fellows forever enriched with experiences that are deeply cultural, educational, and personal.

APF Fellows - 2017

We have offered a range of fellowship programs with various partner organizations over the years. Before the pandemic the APF Fellowship program would take place entirely in person in Pakistan. With the help of our donors, APF also offered sponsorships for deserving fellows who needed help with their travels. Once there, the fellows engaged with locals and participated in on ground field work with our partner organizations, like i-Care and Sehat Kahani.

"I was able to interact and connect with local Pakistanis who I normally do not have the opportunity to interact with. Talking with them, getting to know them and their work, seeing what they have accomplished and hearing the pride in their voice was a great thing to witness.”



— Imran Saeed, 2017 Fellow

APF Fellow with local artisans - 2019

Our commitment to the mission continued through the pandemic, where we adjusted the program to be conducted virtually. This year we offered 2 fellowship programs. One is a virtual program with Sehat Kahani, a tele-medicine company based in Karachi. The other is an in-person program with the Atlantic Council based in D.C.

Meet The 2023 Fellows!

Alysha Siddiqi is a recent graduate from Yale University, with a degree in Political Science and certificate in Global Health Studies. This fall, she plans to pursue a Masters at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, in global disease epidemiology and control. She has been heavily involved with research on pandemic preparedness and social mixing patterns in global health work in Pakistan. She interned with the Centre for Economic Research Progress in Pakistan (CERP), the Global Immunizations Division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and as a Research Assistant with Dr. Saad B. Omer's group at the Yale Institute for Global Health. Sehat Kahani synthesizes her interests in equitable health models, women's healthcare, and public health research, and she looks forward to engaging in field work with the team throughout the summer.

Naila Khan is an internal medicine physician practicing primary care with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and hospital medicine at the Riverside County Hospital Systems. She completed her residency at the University of California Riverside. Her interests include medical education and mentoring, as well as promoting health equity and justice in developing countries. This was the reason she applied for the APF Sehat Kahani Fellowship and hopes that it will be an invaluable experience and help advance healthcare in Pakistan. 

Hamna Khuld recently graduated from Columbia University, where she obtained her Master of Science in Epidemiology. She has over five years of experience serving low-income women and children in the nonprofit sector. She shares, "I applied to the American Pakistan Foundation Fellowship program to sharpen my research skills and to conduct evidence-based initiatives that benefit individual people and their communities."

Omaer Naeem is a rising senior at Washington University in St. Louis studying International Affairs, Asian American Studies, and Urdu. He has previous professional experience working with the Global Economy and Development Program at The Brookings Institute and the Bureau of South & Central Asian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Additionally, Omaer is conducting independent ethnographic research on British-Pakistanis and nationalism. Omaer applied to the APF Fellowship because of his passion for addressing the critical needs of the global Pakistani community through academic-driven policymaking & desire to contribute to an impact-oriented organization.

Connect with our fellows over the years through our Fellow's Directory linked below!

We wish our 2023 fellows the best and are excited to see what this year's fellowship program brings!

The APF Fellowship Program and its impact is not possible without your support. Please consider donating through the link below. Your help goes a long way!

-Team APF