Zeba Kokan serves as a Health Policy Research Fellow at the Weitzman Institute. Last May, Zeba earned bachelor’s degrees in brain & behavioral sciences and global studies from Purdue University. She previously interned at the Regenstrief Institute, where she assisted in a metanarrative review of electronic health records' support for primary care physicians' situation awareness. Zeba believes storytelling can be a forum of exchange for the betterment of mental health, especially for communities with histories of colonial violence and intergenerational trauma. Through the Asian American Psychological Association’s Division of South Asian American Summer Fellowship, she conducted an oral history project titled “Stories of Resilience: Narratives of Indian Muslims & the Diaspora.” Zeba was named a 2020 Truman Scholar and a 2020 Rhodes Scholarship Finalist. She aims to serve in spaces that are committed to ensuring the social determinants of health, wellbeing, and dignity for all.

Authored by Zeba Kokan

Blog Post

Through Their Eyes: Examining Youth Homelessness with Photovoice

The support of the Aetna Foundation for the “Addressing the Health and Health-Related Social Needs of Homeless Youth” project gave the Weitzman Institute, an AcademyHealth organizational member, the unique opportunity to collaborate with young people experiencing housing insecurity during COVID to examine the web of factors contributing to homelessness in New Britain, Connecticut, through photovoice, a community based participatory research approach that uses photography and storytelling.
Posted By Melanie Gonzalez, M.A., Zeba Kokan, Brandon Azevedo, M.P.H, April Joy Damian, Ph.D., M.Sc.
Topics Building Healthy Communities Health Equity Public & Population Health