|
Release date: April 28, 2008 Dedicated Service Results in Emory's Top Honor
His achievements earned him Emory's highest student honor, the Marion Luther Brittain Award, presented each year at Emory's commencement to a graduate who has demonstrated exemplary service to both the university and the greater community without expectation of recognition. Candidates are required to demonstrate a strong character, meritorious service and sense of integrity. Ahmed will receive the award during commencement exercises. "I was very surprised and humbled to receive such a great honor especially since many students at Emory are doing some impressive work to better the university, the surrounding Atlanta community and even the world," Ahmed says. "In every thing I've done, my main goal was always to engage other like-minded students at Emory. What motivates me is my desire to take on multiple challenges, especially undertakings that might be deemed too difficult." Ahmed, a political science and neuroscience and behavioral biology major (who also has completed requirements for a degree in chemistry), is a member of the Emory Scholars Program. He completed his honors thesis this spring in transplantation immunology with his mentor, Allan D. Kirk, M.D., a professor of surgery in the Emory School of Medicine and scientific director of the Emory Transplant Center. A 2007 Emory Community Building and Social Change Fellow, Ahmed is focused on tackling issues related to health and education. "I consider them to be basic human rights that are both integral and related to other complex issues in the world. It is very difficult for me to see others undergoing preventable hardships," Ahmed says. "I feel very privileged to be a student at Emory and feel it is my responsibility to take advantage of the resources here to the fullest and, with other students, make a difference in the Emory community, the local community or the world." Ahmed founded Global Health, Education, Empowerment and Development (HEED) in 2006. The non-profit engages students from universities around the nation to work with local organizations and communities in developing nations to address issues related to health, education and economic development. The group's first major initiative will be to collaborate with a local non-profit in Guatemala to build a health clinic, school and implement a micro-credit initiative. Student are headed to Calhuitz, Guatemala, this summer to begin building facilities. Ahmed will donate the $5,000 that comes with the Brittain Award to the effort. He will stay at Emory next year and continue his research full-time under Dr. Kirk at the Emory Transplant Center and travel to Guatemala throughout the year to implement HEED's various initiatives. He also plans to apply to joint programs in medicine, research and public health next year to earn a medical degree and a doctorate. "I plan on working with Global HEED for the rest of my life and hope to expand to other developing nations, such as Pakistan and India," he says. At the local level, Ahmed is one of the founders of Emory Science Outreach, a student-run service organization to engage the Emory community in K-12 science education in Atlanta. He also was the coordinator of tutorials for the Georgia High School Graduation Test at a local high school. He has served as a residence life advisor and with Emory Emergency Medical Services as an EMT. He is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Emory’s Undergraduate Research Journal, and has been a supplemental instructor for many of his classes in chemistry, physics and biology. Ahmed volunteered as a pre-med intern for a four-week clinical internship in pulmonology at Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Early in his college career, he helped raise more than $20,000 for Asian tsunami relief and was a contributing author to the proposal sent to Emory President James Wagner by Paperclips for Peace in Darfur that eventually resulted in the divestment of millions by Emory from companies supporting Sudan. His many honors include: Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, 2008 Emory Humanitarian Award, 2008 College Council Hall of Fame, Emory College Dean’s List and membership in three honor societies. The eldest son of Shahid and Nargis Ahmed of Wethersfield, Conn., Ahmed dedicates the Brittain Award and his success to his parents, who immigrated to the United States from Karachi, Pakistan. "They have sacrificed a lot for me and have instilled many of the values and principles that I constantly strive to follow and uphold," Ahmed says. "They have always encouraged me to help others, work hard, never quit, be a kindhearted person and always challenge myself while encouraging me to pursue my own interests and desires. My work ethic stems directly from my parents. They are my role models and… I owe them everything." ### Emory University (www.emory.edu) is one of the nation’s leading private research universities and a member of the Association of American Universities. Known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities, Emory is ranked as one of the country's top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system. Subscribe to News@Emory RSS feeds for automatic updates of the latest news at Emory.
|
|
||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
copyright 2001
For more information contact: