Extraordinary Journeys: Stories of Refugees Fleeing Conflict and Shaping Global Health

Kemish Kenneth Alier, from South Sudan, was the first recipient of the Peter Salama MPH Tuition Scholarship for Refugees. He lived in a refugee camp in Uganda for over two decades. After receiving an MD from Gulu University in Uganda, he returned to South Sudan, where he practiced clinically in a rural hospital before receiving his MPH and MBA from Johns Hopkins. He now works with the Center for Humanitarian Health, conducting research focused on health and nutrition in settings of conflict and displacement. 

Hasina Alokozai had a prestigious career in public health in Afghanistan before her family was forced to flee the country amid the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. She worked with UNICEF on nutrition programs in Afghanistan before receiving the Johns Hopkins’ Peter Salama MPH Tuition Scholarship for Refugees.  

Nan Aye Aye is a nurse who has worked extensively in humanitarian settings. After fleeing conflict in Myanmar as a child, she grew up in a Thai refugee camp. She earned her GED at a school for refugees before coming to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health on a Peter Salama MPH Tuition Scholarship for Refugees. She currently works with an NGO helping refugees in the U.S. to access health care.        

Houssam al-Nahhas has devoted his career to improving and protecting the health of Syrians affected by conflict in the country. He played a crucial role in providing medical care during Syria’s uprising, and was detained for providing these services. He was a 2019–2020  Sommer Scholar and recipient of the Peter Salama MPH Tuition Scholarship for Refugees, and today works for Physicians for Human Rights, where he documents and analyzes attacks on health care. 

Aseel Salih fled Sudan's civil war in 2023 after serving as the country's youngest government health official. In this role, she shaped COVID-19 policy and represented Sudan at multiple WHO World Health Assemblies where she advocated for global health equity. At the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, she was a 2023-2024 Sommer Scholar, focusing on health policy and pharmacoepidemiology. She continues her journey at the intersection of health policy and strategy at Otsuka Pharmaceuticals. 

Frances Stead Sellers is an associate editor of the Washington Post and a host of the newsroomʼs live journalism platform, Washington Post Live. She is a frequent moderator of ideas festivals and has reported extensively on public health and disaster response. Sellers is a longtime member of the Center for Humanitarian Healthʼs advisory committee.