A girl from the minority Hazara community in Quetta, Sana Batool, was recently awarded a fellowship in Medicine at Harvard Medical School under the Paul and Daisy Soros fellowship for New Americans.
Sana Batool is the first Hazara girl from Quetta to attend a medical school in the US. After completing her degree, she intends to contribute to the Hazara community as a health professional.
Inspiring story of Hazara student #SanaBatool –admitted to @Harvard Univ on @PDSoros fellowship– bringing glimmer of hope for Hazaras in a week when community is shaken with yet another targeted terrorist attack in #Quetta #Pakistan https://t.co/PPAcx8r6W6#TwitterHazaras
— HazaraResourceCenter (@HRC_1) April 18, 2019
Batool migrated to the United States with her family in 2013. She went to a school in New York and had to struggle due to her not being proficient in English language. Besides taking classes in English and commuting daily four hours to complete BA in Biochemistry, Sana Batool sewed clothes to support her family.
After receiving her phlebotomy certification, she started full-time work at a diagnostic laboratory and continued her college education.
Sana Batool also has five peer-reviewed publications in biochemistry. Her awards are:
- Harvard Medical School Dean’s Reach scholarship
- 2019 Jonas E. Salk scholar
- Excellence in civic engagement and commitment award at Lehman College
- St. George’s Society scholar
- Sigma Xi
