Grantee

Ayesha Khan is a medical student at the CUNY School of Medicine and a 2026–27 Fulbright-Fogarty Fellow conducting research in Nepal. Her professional interests include emergency medicine, infectious disease, climate and health, and health policy.

Based in Kathmandu, Ayesha is researching community-based approaches to dengue prevention, including school- and community-based interventions. She is also examining how weather patterns may help anticipate dengue outbreaks and strengthen public health preparedness.

Saniya Gayake is a Fulbright-Fogarty Fellow based at Dhulikhel Hospital–Kathmandu University. She is pursuing degrees in medicine at Dell Medical School and public affairs at the LBJ School at the University of Texas at Austin, and previously studied Anthropology at Rice University.

Her research in Nepal focuses on implementing an antenatal care bundle to improve the early identification and consistent management of high-risk pregnancies in rural communities. She plans to pursue a career in obstetrics and gynecology while using clinical research and public policy to improve reproductive and maternal healthcare in underserved settings.

Dirk Schmidt is a Ph.D. candidate in Asian Languages & Cultures at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, with a minor in Linguistics. His research spans sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, second-language acquisition, and Tibetan language education.

Through his Fulbright award, Dirk is conducting dissertation fieldwork on linguistic variation among Tibetan-speaking communities in Nepal. Building on his previous work in Tibetan language teaching, materials development, and translation, his research contributes to a deeper understanding of how Tibetan is spoken and used across different communities.

Hannah Schwarz is a Fulbright-Fogarty Fellow and Ph.D. candidate in Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. A former Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal, her research interests include gender equity, sexual and reproductive health, and community-driven approaches to public health.
In Nepal, Hannah is working with adolescent girls and their communities to co-develop an intervention addressing chhaupadi, the practice of menstrual seclusion, using arts-based methods and Human-Centered Design. Her work seeks to place the experiences and knowledge of women, girls, and communities at the center of developing culturally grounded health interventions.

Madison Wilson is a Fulbright U.S. Student Researcher and graduate of Pitzer College, where she studied Sociology and Anthropology. Her interests include community-based conservation, development, participatory research, and intercultural exchange, building on previous study and field research in Nepal.
During her Fulbright grant, Madison is examining how communities in the Annapurna and Kangchenjunga Conservation Areas understand and negotiate bikaas (development) within conservation initiatives. Her research explores how communities, government, and conservation institutions shape development priorities and how local communities participate in decisions affecting their futures.

Sebastian DiPirro is a Fulbright U.S. Student Researcher and graduate of Vassar College, where he studied Anthropology and Geography. His academic interests include environmental anthropology, community-based conservation, and environmental governance in the Himalayas.
Working alongside the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), Sebastian is studying how conservation, tourism, and community well-being are balanced within the Annapurna Conservation Area. His research examines participatory environmental governance and approaches to conservation that respond to the priorities of local communities.

Yasmine Pirlepesova is a Fulbright U.S. Student Researcher and graduate of Rhodes College, where she studied Biology. Her interests in environmental and place-based education and food systems previously brought her to Nepal, where she studied agricultural recovery following severe flooding along the Marsyangdi River.
For her Fulbright project, Yasmine is working with the BlinkNow Foundation and Kopila Valley School in Surkhet. Her research explores how place-based education, including learning connected to local agriculture and food systems, can foster environmental awareness and resilience and potentially inform educational approaches at other schools in Nepal.

Jack Devlin is a wildlife and conservation photographer and a graduate of Yale University, where he studied Environmental Engineering and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. His work uses visual storytelling to raise awareness of biodiversity and support community-based conservation, with previous experience in Nigeria, Honduras, and the United States.
Through his Fulbright project, Jack is collaborating with Greenhood Nepal to document Nepal’s threatened flora and fauna and the community-led initiatives working to protect them. His photography will support conservation outreach while highlighting Nepal’s biodiversity and the people working to preserve it.

Reshma Niraula is a Fulbright U.S. Student Researcher and graduate of Cornell University, where she studied Biological Sciences with a concentration in Neurobiology and Behavior. Her previous research includes work on learning and memory at Cornell and Alzheimer’s disease at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
At Tribhuvan University, Reshma is studying the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive resilience in aging populations, exploring whether multilingualism may help delay or offset symptoms associated with dementia. She plans to pursue a career combining medicine, neuroscience research, clinical care, and global health.