ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2020
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. In the three months the application was open in 2020, 15,159 young leaders applied to join the Class of 2020 on 1,458 campuses across 135 nations. 80 campuses worldwide (just 6%) were selected to host the 1,000+ Millennium Fellows. The Class of 2020 is bold, innovative, and inclusive.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT MUHAMMAD ARSAM SHAIKH, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2020.
University of Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania, United States | Advancing SDG 4 & UNAI 6
" I am excited to Millennium Fellow because this lifetime opportunity will connect me to a diverse body of people who are so different yet similar to me in one aspect: we all aspire to make a change and transform our communities. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Awareness Against Current Transgressions
Since it's inception, AACT has been yearning to see the conditions in Yemen improve. To this end, we are collaborating with Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation (YRRF) to establish vocational training for children in orphanages in Yemen. Basically, the idea is to contract with local institutions in Yemen that conduct vocational training and pay for the tuition and transportation of the students to and from the institution. The two topics identified now are computer training and cell phone repairs. We believe that this project holds a lot of promise and the potential to improve the livelihood of many individuals who like many have been deeply affected by the consequences of war. At the completion of the project, I hope to reach above $3000 in fundraising that could be used to pay the expenses for the vocational training in Yemen.
About the Millennium Fellow
Arsam Shaikh is a student at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and College of Arts and Sciences, pursuing a dual degree in neuroscience and healthcare management. As an immigrant from Pakistan, where mental illness is often stigmatized for being a “fictional concept,” Arsam deeply cares about the medical and research-based interventions that we as a society should continue to take to support those in need. During his high school, Arsam immersed himself in a myriad of academic experiences such as Health Professions Recruitment and Exposure Program (HPREP) at Weill Cornell Medicine, a neuroscience internship at McLean Hospital, and Pioneer Academics. During these programs, he researched various neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease, Schizophrenia, Parkinson’s Disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and became aware of the reality about mental illnesses. The understanding of mental illness on a molecular and biological level through neuroscience stimulated him to work towards reducing the stigma associated with mental health, and reimagine the entire mental health system in Pakistan. Bringing his passion to Penn, he is currently a part-time research assistant at the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research (CNDR), on the board for Active Minds (a premier organization impacting college students and mental health with a 550+ strong campus chapters network of passionate student advocates) and started an Unmasked Project at Penn. Arsam is also the President of an organization, that he founded along with two of his peers, called AACT (Awareness Against Current Transgressions) through which he addresses some of the biggest humanitarian issues in the world today.
