Student Advocacy

About the Program

Student Advisory Board

Natasha Chida, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Natasha is a Pakistani-American who was born in London, England, and who moved to the States at the age of two.  She went to the University of Florida as an undergraduate, where she majored in English and Psychology. Natasha's main health care interest is in global health/social medicine, but she is also very interested in women's issues and rights. She would love to eventually open a clinic in Pakistan that would serve as both a primary care facility and a safe space for women. Interesting facts: If she weren't in med school she would be doing a PhD in English, and she is a rabid Gator fan. Go Gators!!

Nicolas Gavin, New York University School of Medicine
Nicolas received a B.A. with Honors in biology (and a minor in health policy) from NYU's College of Arts and Science in 2005. While at NYU, he was a Presidential Honors Scholar and served on the editorial board of Humanus—NYU's Journal of Human Rights. At NYU SoM, he is president of the student chapter of PHR and co-founder of the NYU SoM Responsible Education Campaign. His primary research interests are in immigrant health, HIV/AIDS and public health policy.

Ali Khan, Virginia Commonwealth University
Ali is a native of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, where his childhood consisted of rooting for the Redskins, Bullets/Wizards, Capitals, United, Baltimore Orioles and (a recent development) the Nationals – which he asserts is the root of his high tolerance for pain and general sorrow.  Currently Ali is a second year student at Virginia Commonwealth University 's Medical College. One day he hopes to work at the intersection of medicine and public policy, with an emphasis on public health systems and health economics, bettering the lives of both his individual patients and society as a whole.

Saranya Kurapati, Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine
Saranya is the former National Student Program Coordinator and Health Action AIDS Student Program Associate for Physicians for Human Rights.  In this capacity, she organized health professional students in over 70 chapters nationwide to advance health and human rights advocacy on their campuses and further PHR's campaign efforts to improve US and global HIV/AIDS policies.  She is a graduate of Carleton College.  During her time at Carleton, she served as the Midwestern Regional Coordinator for Amnesty International's Global AIDS Week of Action as well as president of the Carleton Chapter of AI.  Currently she is a second year student at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago.

Katie Ratzan, Dartmouth Medical School
Currently a medical student at Dartmouth, Katie initially studied history & French in college. After graduation, she completed a post-baccalaureate program while spending her summers in southeastern Uganda working on clean water initiatives. Katie spent one year in Boston working on a hunger screening & outreach program for Massachusetts General Hospital and is now starting to implement a similar program in rural New Hampshire. When no one is looking, Katie likes eating a pint of ice cream while watching either "The Family Guy" or "Arrested Development."

Nick Reeves, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Nick, a first year medical student at Washington University in St Louis, is from northern California, where he attended college at UC Santa Cruz.  Recently, Nick helped to organize a global health conference that was sponsored by our PHR chapter at Wash U SOM.  The day after the conference, he went to Washington, D.C., and participated in PHR's summit on U.S. global AIDS policies for injection drug users. 

Sohil Sud, Tufts University School of Medicine
After graduating from Brown University with a BA in International Relations in 2003, Sohil went to work for the Advisory Board Company in Washington, DC.  There he conducted primary research, published reports, and developed teaching plans that addressed the strategic needs of hospitals and other health care institutions across the nation.  In 2005, Sohil entered a joint-degree MD/MA program at Tufts University between the School of Medicine and The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy – he is currently a second-year medical student in this program.  Although still undecided about a medical specialty, his career aspirations include a desire to address inequities related to health and human rights through clinical and political means.