Augmenting Equitable Cardiac Care Access in Low-Resource Settings
While volunteering as a medical student at screening camps for early detection of congenital heart diseases, Asma Merchant recognized the vulnerability and neglect faced by low-income pediatric patients in Pakistan.
Realizing the multifaceted burden of cardiovascular diseases in the country, Merchant saw the need for tailored cardiac screening programs for these populations.
“Suturing hearts, one surgery at a time; improving cardiac outcomes, many communities at a time.”
She played a key role in founding the Cardiac Sciences Collaboration at her medical school, the Aga Khan University (AKU), connecting aspiring physicians with leading cardiologists and cardiac surgeons to begin discussions on alleviating Pakistan’s cardiac disease burden. Through her school’s student-led Surgery Interest Group, she launched a National Ambassador Program that allowed aspiring surgeons across Pakistan to receive mentorship from renowned faculty and improve their hands-on surgical skills.
After graduation, Merchant secured a research fellowship in Pakistan under the mentorship of Adil Haider, an MPH Bloomberg School alumnus and dean of AKU Medical College. With an interest in equitable health care access, she was involved in the evaluation of a government-funded initiative in Pakistan aimed at providing universal health care coverage. She also assessed the initial impact and efficacy of a nationwide initiative that aims to provide free training in CPR and bleeding control to 10 million bystanders.
At the Bloomberg School, she plans to gain skills in applied health equity research so that she can translate her knowledge into action to better serve cardiac patients in low-resource settings. “Through rigorous public health and surgical training, I hope to improve the quality of life of cardiac patients by both preventing and treating heart diseases,” she says.
