Imagine having a chance to study in a foreign country, and just when you’re ready to return home, a civil war breaks out. It’s too dangerous to go back, your family is in peril, and you have only sporadic communication with them.
For Eman Salih, a public health professional from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, the scenario was real. And it’s what has led her to the Yale School of Public Health. With much help from the YSPH faculty, she is one of 14 scholars, writers, artists, and activists across Yale University who have found a temporary home here as part of Yale’s Scholars at Risk program.
“When the war happened, the fellowship I was on was about to finish, and I realized I couldn’t go home and join my family when the country was locked down and no one could enter,” she said. “I knew I had to look for another opportunity, one that worked for my situation. I reached out to my Sudanese mentor, Ibrahim Bani [associate professor adjunct, chronic disease epidemiology], and he told me about the Scholars at Risk program at Yale. I applied, and I was accepted.”
Salih came to the U.S. for the 2022-23 academic year on a Fulbright-Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship at Emory University. In April of this year, a civil war broke out in her home country between two warring factions: the military (the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The SAF had overthrown longtime strongman Omar al-Bashir in 2019. It then overthrew the country’s transitional democratic government in 2021 with the help of the RSF, but the two sides clashed over power sharing, and fighting commenced April 15.
Life at Yale and in New Haven has been a smooth ongoing journey, filled with new experiences, learning, and adapting to a different cultural and academic landscape. I am grateful to Yale for keeping me safe!”
Eman Salih
“The political unrest, particularly after the October 2021 coup, instilled a growing concern for my safety,” she said. And on April 15, “The war, once a distant threat, knocked on our doors when the first strike occurred merely two blocks away from my family home. The chaos, the shooting, the sudden need to shield my autistic brother – all these experiences were harrowing and led me to the stark realization that returning home was no longer safe.”
Since then, innocent civilians have borne the brunt of the conflict. The United Nations reports that more than 9,000 civilians have been killed and 5.6 million have been displaced from their homes. YSPH’s Humanitarian Research Lab, through open-source data, social media, and satellite images, has compiled evidence of possible massacres by RSF forces in the West Darfur region against Sudanese citizens and the Masalit and Burgo tribes. Meanwhile, the lack of food, health care, and other resources has triggered a massive humanitarian crisis.
Salih said her home in Khartoum is currently occupied by the RSF. She is concerned about her family, which she calls “a cornerstone of my life.” They were forced to flee to a safer state and have now left the country.
“The insecurity made simple decisions like stepping out fraught with danger,” she said. “My brother, with special needs, and my family faced unimaginable hardships.” Despite the hardships, she said, they manage to communicate through texts and social media to bridge the gaps caused by poor connectivity and the high cost of staying connected.
Before coming to the U.S., Salih worked for a decade at Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health in several capacities of increasing responsibility: as a research quality officer at the Public Health Institute; as a technical officer, handling UNFPA and other bilateral relationships; and as director of bilateral and multinational relations, where she coordinated Sudan’s World Bank-financed COVID-19 emergency response. The latter position laid the groundwork for her current pursuits in the U.S.
Prior to that, her work in Sudan had put her in contact with YSPH faculty and staff – namely, Mayur Desai, PhD ’97, MPH ’94, professor of epidemiology (chronic diseases) and associate dean for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging; Kaveh Khoshnood, PhD ’95, MPH ’89, associate professor of epidemiology (microbial diseases); Erika Linnander, MPH, MBA, director of the Yale Global Health Leadership Initiative; and Dr. Sten Vermund, MD, Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Public Health and former YSPH dean.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Yale team established a strong collaboration with four of Sudan’s top universities, which led to both a Hecht Global Health Faculty Network Award from the Yale Institute for Global Health and a grant from the U.S. Department of State to strengthen public health research, mentorship, and leadership. Salih was and continues to be a critical member of the Yale-Sudan partnership. In 2022, she co-authored a paper titled, “Strengthening Public Health Scholarship in Sudan: The Role of Leadership and Mentorship Development.”
As Salih’s Fulbright-Humphrey Fellowship was coming to an end, her advisor at Emory, Dr, Saria Hassan, MD, formerly of the Yale School of Medicine, helped Salih apply for Yale'sScholars at Risk program. Desai, Salih’s YSPH supervisor, wrote a letter nominating her for consideration. She also received letters of support from Hassan and from then-Interim YSPH Dean Melinda Pettigrew, PhD ’99, YSPH deputy dean and Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases).
“Basically, the way Scholars at Risk works is that the school needs to show that it wants the person and has a department that is willing to host the applicant. They also need to show how the school is going to benefit and how [the scholar] can contribute,” said Khoshnood, who is on the Scholars at Risk Committee. Salih met the criteria.
At YSPH, Salih is a full-time postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology. The university supports scholars for up to two years, and also provides financial assistance to Scholars at Risk for visa and relocation expenses as needed. Her duties “are about learning and sharing my experience,” she said. She contributes to research work and publications, is a guest lecturer, audits courses, and participates in seminars.
Khoshnood teaches a course called Health in Humanitarian Crises (EMD 541b) each spring. “I’d like to bring her in as a lecturer,” he said of Salih. “I think she has quite the unique perspective about the health of populations in crisis. Very few faculty, if any, have this on-the-ground experience in humanitarian crisis settings.”
Dean Megan L. Ranney, MD, is “thrilled” to have Salih at YSPH. “I am grateful to Kaveh Khoshnood for his commitment to this program, which is so critical for supporting public health colleagues who are confronting anti-science and humanitarian emergencies,” Ranney said. “Eman’s presence at YSPH – her commitment to bringing both her lived experience and her diverse perspective on the work of public health – allows us to do and be better, in this moment of immense public health and humanitarian challenges across the globe.”
Desai is hosting Salih, who is thankful for the school’s welcoming and supportive atmosphere. “Accordingly, life at Yale and in New Haven has been a smooth ongoing journey, filled with new experiences, learning, and adapting to a different cultural and academic landscape,” she said. “I am grateful to Yale for keeping me safe!”