Dr. Abid Siraj has been engaged in teaching, research, and program management in public health in India for the past 20 years. He has also been actively involved in rights to health advocacy work. His doctoral work focused on India’s trajectory in reproductive, sexual, and child health programs with special reference to family planning and population control from beneficiaries’ perspectives and perceptions. Besides his doctorate degree, he holds a master’s degree in social work from Central University of India-Aligarh Muslim University.

Dr. Siraj has worked with SIT since 2011, first as academic coordinator and later as the academic director of a public health program. Before joining SIT, he worked for a USAID-funded project to train the village heads of local self-governments to promote reproductive and child health in the villages of Aligarh district in Uttar Pradesh in India. District and state government officials have praised his work as the manager of a community-based distribution project of family planning methods for achieving the family planning targets and implementing a choice-based contraceptives program with the help of community volunteers.

Dr. Abid was part of a team that did pioneering work in thethe ‘National Rural Health Missio, the largest public health program initiated by the government of India in 2005. His proposed initiative for an emergency helpline for safe delivery to ensure the timely shifting of pregnant mothers to the nearest hospital was adopted in various states.

Ashutosh is a Panchakarma expert with a practice of holistic and traditional treatments mentioned in Ayurveda. He has treated patients all over the world. Along with a Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery degree from Goa University’s Gomantak Ayurveda Mahavidyalya & Research Centre, Ashutosh holds a postgraduate certificate in Panchakarma from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Karnataka. He has presented and published scientific papers across India and translated Ayurvedic Anatomy from Marathi to Hindi. He is an avid blogger and writer.

Dr. Azim Khan is a professor of global health and human rights. He is the director of SIT’s International Honors Program in Human Rights and co-chair of the MA in Global Health at School for International Training. He received the prestigious Ford Foundation International Fellowship for Human Rights for academic excellence, leadership, and commitment to the community in 2003. In 2007, he was awarded a Scholar of Peace fellowship by the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. 
In a career spanning more than 25 years, Dr. Khan has worked with universities in India and the U.S., teaching law, human rights, public health, and sustainable development. The primary focus of his work has been to create global citizenry through international education.  

He pursued his doctorate degree in health, gender, and human rights from Aligarh Muslim University, where he focused his thesis on sex-selective abortions and effectiveness of prenatal diagnostic techniques legislation in India. He has earned two master’s degrees; an MA in human rights from the University of London and Master of Laws from Aligarh Muslim University, in addition to a Bachelor of Laws with distinction in constitutional law from the University of Lucknow.

Before joining SIT, Dr, Khan worked as a professor and dean of a law school, and as an analyst for the U.S. government. He was a facilitator for Ford Foundation’s Leadership for Social Justice Institute in Washington, D.C., in 2006. Besides being a committed academic practitioner and policy influencer, he has worked as a consultant and researcher for international nonprofit organizations, including the United Nations.

Dr. Khan was lead writer for a shadow country report on India for the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (UN CERD).

Dr. Khan is a member of Global Alliance for Justice Education (U.S.), a fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health (U.K.), a fellow of the Public Health Association of India, and a member of the International Federation on Aging (Canada) and the Clinical Legal Education Association (U.S.).

See Dr. Khan’s full list of publications

Ghanashyam has more than 15 years of experience in biodiversity conservation and agro-ecology, ecosystem services, climate change, traditional farming systems, traditional knowledge systems, community development, environmental governance, mountain culture, and livelihoods in the eastern Himalayas. He is involved in access and benefit sharing of traditional knowledge. He researches traditional agro-forestry systems, climate change adaptation, mountain agricultural biodiversity and production systems, trans-Himalayan agro-pastoralism, habitat ecology, and mountain spring revival initiatives. During postdoctoral research at United Nations University in Tokyo, he compared traditional farming systems and agro-biodiversity in the Eastern Himalayas, Northern Thailand, China’s Yunnan Province, and the Northern Mountainous Region of Japan.

Gautam and Maili are experts on agroecology. This husband and wife team manage their farm together and have conserved traditional varieties of food crops and vegetables, learning through trial and error. Both have a deep understanding of traditional ecological knowledge.

Durga is from South Sikkim. He has an undergraduate degree in English and has worked with nonprofit and intergovernmental organizations in Sikkim and Darjeeling, India. He has worked in sustainable development, with a focus on rural water security and livelihood and biodiversity issues, and has published research. He works with government agencies on Rural Water Security Planning for the drought-prone areas in Sikkim and with the National Biodiversity Authority’s Bio-resources Documentation and Access and Benefit Sharing Project. He likes traveling and trekking, particularly visiting ancient monuments and museums. He has been part of this program since 2017.

Tara holds a master’s degree from the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, where she specialized in social and economic development and organizational management. She studied agriculture as an undergraduate and earned a postgraduate certificate in women’s studies.

Tara comes from a farming community in south Sikkim. She was a researcher and development consultant with NGOs and international development organizations in India and Nepal. She’s been an eco-health researcher with BAIF Development Research Foundation; a gender and social inclusion consultant with The World Conservation Union, Nepal; a consultant with International Center for Integrated Mountain Development; and a consultant on community development with JPS Consultants Delhi/IC Net-JICA Japan. She has conducted a literature review of the eastern Himalayas on agro-biodiversity conservation from a gender perspective and done field studies on gender-based traditional knowledge of medicinal plants and conservation of agro-biodiversity. Tara is interested in community development, rural livelihood, agro-biodiversity, and gender issues and is strongly influenced by social justice and equity and deeply connected to sustainability and practices of environmental and humanitarian spirituality.

Applications open Sept. 15

With undergraduates’ schedules in full swing for the new academic year, it’s not too soon to start thinking about how to make the most of summer 2019. Imagine snorkeling in one of the world’s top diving sites as you study marine ecology in Panama, building career skills with an internship at an NGO in Vietnam, exploring Madagascar’s extraordinary natural environment to learn about traditional medicine, or learning Arabic in Jordan or Morocco.

Those are just some of the many opportunities available through School for International Training (SIT). During summer 2019, SIT Study Abroad is offering 23 programs in 17 countries that will appeal to a wide range of majors and interests, including five skills-building internship opportunities.

Like all SIT Study Abroad programs, each summer program offers academic rigor and an immersive cultural experience within the framework of at least one critical global issue. Applications for these programs open September 15.

New to the SIT Student Abroad summer portfolio this year are:

Colombia: Building a Culture of Peace – Integrate peace studies with Colombia’s cultures through music, dance, and food from the program base in the vibrant, multicultural Caribbean Coast city of Cartagena, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Vietnam: Nongovernmental Organization Internship – Learn about development and the roles of nongovernmental organizations engaged in social change through this guided internship, which also includes lectures and site visits. Customize this program based on your areas of interest.

SIT summer programs, sorted according to themes, are:

Climate | Environment

Iceland: Renewable Energy, Technology, and Resource Economics  

Indonesia: Biodiversity and Conservation in Bali and Borneo  

Jordan: Engineering and Design for Sustainable Environments  

Nepal: Geoscience in the Himalaya  

Panama: Marine Ecology & Blue Carbon Conservation in the Pacific & Caribbean  

Tanzania: Climate Change and Sustainability, Mount Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar

Development | Economy | Inequality

India: Agroecology and Food Security in the Himalaya  

Panama: Community and Nongovernmental Organizations Internship  

Vietnam: Nongovernmental Organization Internship

Global Health

China: Community Health and Traditional Chinese Medicine  

India: Traditional Medicine and Healthcare Practices

Jordan: Counseling and Humanitarian Action Internship  

Kenya: Public Health in the Tropics Internship  

Madagascar: Traditional Medicine and Healthcare Systems  

Switzerland: Food Security and Nutrition

Media | Arts | Social Change

Argentina: Art, Memory, and Social Transformation

Migration | Identity | Resilience

Jordan: Intensive Arabic Language Studies  

Morocco: Arabic Language and Community Service  

Peace | Human Rights | Social Movements

Colombia: Building a Culture of Peace  

South Africa: Education and Social Change  

South Africa: Social Justice and Activism Internship  

Switzerland: International Studies and Multilateral Diplomacy  

Uganda and Rwanda: Peace and Conflict Studies in the Lake Victoria Basin

Visit our website for more information on these and all of SIT’s immersive, experiential study abroad opportunities.

SIT Study Abroad Programs

• IHP: Health and Community: Globalization, Culture, and Care
• IHP: Social Innovation: Entrepreneurship, Design, and Development
• India: Agroecology and Food Security in the Himalaya (Summer)
• India: Public Health, Gender, and Community Action
• India: Sustainable Development and Social Change
• India: Traditional Medicine and Healthcare Practices (Summer)

SIT Study Abroad Programs

• IHP: Health and Community: Globalization, Culture, and Care
• IHP: Social Innovation: Entrepreneurship, Design, and Development
• India: Agroecology and Food Security in the Himalaya (Summer)
• India: Public Health, Gender, and Community Action
• India: Sustainable Development and Social Change
• India: Traditional Medicine and Healthcare Practices (Summer)