From the president
Dhairya Desia, a third-year Levine Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, is a student and servant leader working to address health inequities and enhance overall community wellness. Committed to issues of access, Dhairya leads a partnership with the local YMCA to provide accessible and culturally sensitive CPR classes to underserved communities; serves as president of the campus chapter for Habitat for Humanity helping to augment affordable housing supply; and serves as president of “Kids are Scientists Too” which supports applied STEM learning in local elementary and middle schools, helping students envision careers in various STEM fields. An avid researcher, Dhairya has served for the last two years as a Social Strategy and Impact Team Intern with Atrium Health, Charlotte’s non-profit healthcare network, where he helped create the infrastructure needed to evaluate resource needs and support structures among community partners. He has also been engaged as an undergraduate research assistant working on projects seeking to improve outcomes for asthma patients, to better understand the chemistry of disease states such as cancer and neurodegeneration, and to enhance water purification techniques and identify newly emerging contaminants.
Personal Statement
Growing up, I loved standing on the balcony of my apartment in Gujarat, India, and seeing so many people live multitudinous lives. However, it was never too long before my gaze widened to the makeshift shelters and shanties spread in a community kilometers away. As my family moved to America, I found similar contrasts between standard neighborhoods and impoverished communities everywhere. My work focuses on lessening the disparities in accessing basic necessities through treatment, prevention, and leadership. As the President of Habitat for Humanity on my campus and Social Strategy and Impact Intern at Atrium Healthcare, I focus on treatment: providing immediate housing, food, internet, and financial support to my community in Charlotte. As a researcher working in water purification through nanomaterial, reversing neurodegeneration as well as cancer with protein development, and quantifying disparities in the emergency room of hospitals, I work towards prevention. Finally, through teaching CPR classes and inspiring kids to fall in love with science, I strengthen my leadership. Through these three pillars, I aim to build a community that understands how to support one another and to improve public health equity so that more individuals have the resources and support to meet their basic necessities.