The Piedmont District 7690 Rotary Club only awards one Global Grant, but due to increased funding and the strength of Elon’s applicants, the Club was pleased to award grants this year to three Elon alumni.
Megan Curling ’23, Ava de Bruin ’23 and Nazaneen Shokri ’24 have all been awarded a Rotary Global Grant from the Piedmont District 7690 Rotary Club. The $30,000 grant supports graduate study outside of the US for those studying within Rotary’s six areas of focus: peace and conflict prevention/resolution, disease prevention and treatment, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, and economic and community development. In a typical year, the Piedmont District 7690 Rotary Club only awards one Global Grant—however, due to increased funding and the particular strength of Elon’s applicants, the Club was pleased to award grants this year to all three.
Curling, de Bruin and Shokri are currently abroad in their respective graduate programs. Curling is in Germany, earning a master of public health (MPH) at The Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, and de Bruin and Shokri are both in the United Kingdom: the former at The London School of Economics, earning a master of science in health and international development, and the latter at University College London earning a master of science in Women’s Health.
While they each had unique journeys at Elon, these three graduates all have one thing in common: a degree in public health. Six Elon students have received Rotary Global Grants from the Piedmont District 7690 Rotary Club in the past four years, and five of them have had at least one major in public health. Kiara Hunter won the grant in 2023 to earn a master of science in population health from University College London, and Allison Potter won the grant in 2022 to earn an MSc in Health and International Development from the London School of Economics. The continued success of Elon’s public health majors in this competition is a testament to the department’s ability to successfully prepare leaders who address the most pressing public health concerns of the 21st century.
This opportunity is not limited to public health majors, though, and all interested Elon students and alumni should contact the National and International Fellowships Office by early January 2025 for more information about the application process.
Megan Curling ’23
Megan Curling graduated from Elon in 2023 with degrees in journalism and public health. Her Elon career was marked by both academic excellence and dedicated leadership at nearly every level. She was named a Lumen Scholar to research the cultural and environmental impacts of the Tungkum Gold Mine on the villagers of Na Nong Bong, Thailand; she held leadership roles in Student Government Association and LEAF (Lutherans, Episcopalians and Friends); she was selected to participate in Elon’s competitive Year of Service Program, where she worked with Cone Health and Alamance Regional Medical Center; and she was named a Youth Trustee and was appointed to serve a two-year term on Elon’s Board of Directors. Rotary is a natural extension of Curling’s consistent dedication to community, service, and cross-cultural engagement.
“My entire Elon experience laid the foundation for my success with the Rotary Global Grant,” Curling explained. “I applied for the grant because it perfectly supports my passion for public health and my commitment to global service. The opportunity to study internationally aligned with my belief in the power of cross-cultural collaboration to make impactful change in Rotary’s goals of promoting peace, fighting disease and improving the quality of life in communities worldwide.”
Curling’s selection for a Rotary Global Grant is no surprise to her former faculty. “Megan is brilliant, and she also brings genuine humility to her work,” said Stephanie Baker, associate professor of public health studies and chair of the Department of Public Health Studies at Elon.
Curling is confident that her time in the MPH program at The Hamburg University of Applied Sciences—particularly in a country ranked in the top 10 globally for public health, quality of life and education—will prepare her to work for an organization that cares about improving health outcomes with sustainable, community-involved solutions, particularly in underserved communities.
Ava de Bruin ’23
Ava de Bruin graduated from Elon in 2023 with degrees in economics and public health. To truly blend her academic interests, she completed two undergraduate research projects: one about HIV prevention in Malawi and another about domestic violence and its effects on women’s financial well-being. de Bruin studied abroad twice in New Zealand and Ghana (she had plans to spend a semester in Tanzania but was unable due to COVID-19) while also completing Elon’s Peace Corp Prep Program to further her interests in international service and sustainable, effective global partnerships. Her commitment to academic excellence even earned her membership into Phi Beta Kappa—all while she trained for four years as a Division I athlete on Elon’s Dance Team.
Just like Curling, de Bruin made a strong impression on her public health faculty. Cynthia Fair, professor of public health studies, taught de Bruin in a senior seminar and noted that her proposal for HIV prevention in Malawi was “one of the best proposals [she’d] seen over years of teaching senior seminar” and clearly illustrated de Bruin’s deep commitment to addressing health and economic disparities.
At The London School of Economics, de Bruin will be able to uniquely honor these interests in global health and economics. She is particularly eager to develop a deeper understanding of econometric analysis while extending the research she began at Elon that explores the impact of domestic violence survivorship on the financial well-being of women.
Just as she is eager to continue the trend of academic excellence she began at Elon, de Bruin is also “really excited to grow [her] community of peers, faculty, and friends.”
“I had such a wonderful community while at Elon, and I’ve grieved my time here coming to an end,” said de Bruin. “My Elon journey will always be part of my identity, and I am ready to plant roots in another robust academic community for this next stage in my life. Without my experience at Elon, I would have never had the tools or confidence to take this chance.”
Nazaneen Shokri ’24
Nazaneen Shokri graduated from Elon in 2024 with a degree in public health. Shokri’s undergraduate endeavors were characterized by her passion for transforming healthcare by addressing inequities and improving access for underserved communities. She applied for and won the Lumen Prize to support her two-year project, “Data Justice: MENA Women, Preterm Birth, and Discrimination,” which focused on discrimination faced by women from the MENA region during labor that can lead to preterm birth. She was also a member of the H.E.R. (Health Equity and Racism) Lab and an organizing member of Students for Peace and Justice at Elon. Rotary is a natural fit for Shokri, and for her, the grant is more than just a monetary scholarship.
“Rotary isn’t only a scholarship, but an opportunity to impact communities on a larger scale,” she said. “Backed by Rotary, I’ll have the tools I need to make true change and an impactful difference when it comes to the field of maternal and child health.” In addition to attending a graduate program, Rotary also requires that Shokri and all recipients of the grant maintain a blog about their experience and connect regularly with the local Rotary club in their host community.
Shokri’s undergraduate mentor, Assistant Professor of Public Health Students Yanica Faustin, noted that she “is such a determined scholar who is a fierce advocate for her community.” While Shokri’s ultimate goal is to attend medical school, she’s made the intentional choice to earn a master of science in women’s health from University College London first because she wants to be an obstetrician who truly serves her patients with an equity-minded, antiracist framework.