In remembrance of their friend Aalok Modi, seniors Baldeep Pabla, Hari Shankar and Imran Uraizee have established a global health grant fund that will allow one student to do work in the health profession for one year.
They were inspired to establish the fund in the memory of Modi because of Modi's interest in global health issues. Modi unexpectedly passed away Feb. 14 last year after he collapsed during an intramural basketball game in Wilson Recreation Center.
"Aalok's big passion was promoting dialogue about Global Health. To honor that, we wanted to create a fund that would give out an annual grant to a student for a health-related project," said Shankar, Modi's former friend and roommate. The grant would cover costs such as transportation, housing and project-related materials.
The three had been working on the project over the past year, but did not fine-tune the idea until early December.
"We've been talking about it since Aalok passed away, but didn't really get it together until recently," Uraizee said.
Dr. Anthony So, director of the Program on Global Health and Technology Access, has been working with the students to set up the structure and goals of the grant.
"We have been developing a clearly defined purpose to the fund, a fundraising plan for endowing such an effort, and the memoranda of understanding with the University for eventually administering the fund in accordance to this vision," So wrote in an e-mail.
The scholarship will be endowed through Duke, whose policy mandates that $50,000 be raised before any grant is extended, Pabla said. Once this mark has been reached, Duke will invest the money and use the annual return for funding for each year's selected student. Duke guarantees a 5 percent rate of return, Shankar said.
Pabla, Shankar and Uraizee said they hope that Duke and the Global Health Institute will jointly administer the grant, and want students to be involved in selecting grant recipients.
"Aalok's big thing was getting students involved in Global Health, so we want to honor that," Shankar said. "We also want a more permanent administrator, which is the role we would like the Global Health Institute to play."
Until they raise $50,000, the trio will use an account with the Triangle Community Foundation, a local nonprofit that has agreed to assist the students in managing funds.
Donations have been coming in relatively slowly since Shankar and his friends started collecting last week, but said they have faith that as awareness grows, funds will too.
"We're trying to get the word out," Pabla said. "We're hoping that with the support of all of Aalok's many friends, their parents and the other sources of funding we're looking at, we'll be able to raise all the money by August or so. But being practical, there's always the possibility that we won't be able to achieve that."
Pabla added that even if the goal is not reached by August, he and his friends will continue to work toward collecting the necessary funds.
The three students will be tabling on the West Campus Plaza next week and are encouraging online donations as well.
In addition to the global health grant, there are other funds and programs being set up in honor of Modi. Last year, junior Natasha Gupta, a friend of Modi's, helped develop a program offering CPR/AED training to students to promote knowledge of emergency situation techniques. Modi's brother, Saumil Modi, a student at Ohio State University, has also taken initiative by establishing a foundation to raise heart health awareness at his school, Pabla said.
"What's important to us is isn't so much the grant in itself but the fact that we want Aalok's memory to be on this campus for years after we leave." Baldeep said. "That's what this is inspired by."
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