A proud Clevelander, Nihaal Rahman is an aspiring public health pediatrician with a dream to solve health disparities across the globe. He will graduate from Johns Hopkins University in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Public Health. At Johns Hopkins Medicine, Nihaal has worked on a variety of research projects centered around the improvement of childhood health, including a global health project researching environmental exposures, a clinical education initiative on trauma-informed care, and an investigation of appetite factors in childhood obesity. Additionally, he has co-authored multiple papers with faculty on the intersections of sustainability and health, and served as a research assistant at the JHU Center for a Livable Future focusing on solving inequities within the global food system.
In 2020, through the Global Health Established Field Placement program, he conducted economic and geospatial analyses in Kampala, Uganda on the availability of medications to treat COPD. Working with the JHU Center for Social Concern, he enlisted partner organizations, developed a social justice curriculum, and reinstated the alternative break program at Hopkins, enabling students to participate in community service projects across the country. Selected as one of four Hopkins Votes Ambassadors for active and engaged citizenry, he has also served as a vice-president and project coordinator of Alpha Phi Omega, the co-ed service organization that completes 5,000+ hours of community service each semester with 35+ partner organizations in Baltimore. Nihaal is also a dedicated executive board member of HOPthon, the JHU branch of Dance Marathon, which raises $20,000+ each year for the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. He has recently accepted a position as a Health Equity intern at the Maryland Department of Health and will spend his last semester analyzing the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on adolescents from racial and ethnic minority groups throughout Maryland.