Amenah A. Babar

Amenah A. Babar grew up on a small hobby farm in rural Minnesota—where cows outnumber the people. The youngest of 3 siblings, Amenah and her older brother Imran would spend hours wandering in the forest collecting random critters, rolling down hills, planting rows of crop for harvest, and chasing stray sheep back into their pastures. During the college years, Amenah claims to have flirted with English and chemistry, before committing to a degree in biology at Carleton College, located in another small town in Minnesota. Having earned the name Amena Acid, she wrote a slightly melodramatic senior thesis on the bubonic plague—arguing about aDNA (ancient DNA) and whether or not Yersinia pestis truly caused the “Black Death”. Her many affectionate nicknames include: Dorko, Memers, A^2 (as in Amenah and Akochi), Amochi (as in...you know already...) but P.S. don't call her Acid! Before receiving her MPH in epidemiology from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Amenah spent one year in Montana working in the Genomics Facility of the NIH/NIAID Rocky Mountain Lab branch where she continued her love for DNA within a DNA sequencing lab doing research relating to Coxiella burnetti, prion related protein resistance, and Granulibacter bethesdensis. It is rumored she met a certain someone here…;) Her master’s work in epidemiology centered on examining gender differences in psychosocial risk factors for tobacco use among urban youth in India. During her master’s program, Amenah traveled to Mali as an intern with the Malaria Vaccine Development Branch of the NIH, where she trained researchers in data entry for clinical malaria vaccine trials. As a doctoral student in Society, Human Development and Health, Amenah is interested in examining how communication inequalities play a role in sustaining health disparities for disadvantaged groups, particularly pertaining to minority health and those from a lower SES. Additionally, she has interests in tobacco prevention and mental health issues. In her spare time, Amenah enjoys playing piano, singing, dancing, cooking (eating!), and writing. A typical Thursday evening will find her watching the latest netflix movie pick by her favorite partner in crime, Akochi--a medical student at HMS-- and eating deep dish Chitown pizza and chocolate. Her older sister Azra-- a family practice physician and Mom-- and older brother Imran--a molecular biology grad student studying lung cancer-- remain her source of inspiration.

Amenah A. Babar is the Co-Editor in Chief and Creator of eConnection.
email: ababar@hsph.harvard.edu