Chat with Salman Mohammed for a few moments and it
quickly becomes clear that the 22-year-old senior has
little interest in talking about himself. Instead, the psychology major who was
born in
Pakistan but calls Texas "home" would far rather discuss,
among other things, strategies for
eliminating the barriers that poor people in the United
States and abroad face in accessing quality
health care.
"Poverty is all about a lack of access to things, from
education and health care to other
resources," said Mohammed, who plans to become a doctor.
"This is a subject that I am passionate
about. This is what motivates me."
Last week, USA Today recognized Mohammed for
that passion when he became one of 20
undergraduates nationwide named to the daily newspaper's
2009 All-USA College Academic First Team
for outstanding intellectual achievement and leadership.
The honor brought with it a $2,500 cash
award, a trophy and a photograph in the April 29 edition of
USA Today.
Mohammed was recognized for a list of accomplishments
that most people twice his age would
be proud to claim, including founding an organization that
brings students together with members of
the surrounding community to foster social change;
conducting research on the effectiveness of drug
treatment centers based on their physical and social
environment, including availability of drugs;
helping establish and maintain the first free hemodialysis
clinic in his hometown of Hyderabad,
Pakistan; serving as an Admissions Office ambassador to
prospective Johns Hopkins students;
representing his class in the Student Government
Association as a senior class senator; fostering
community among 38 freshmen in Adams House as a resident
adviser; working with fellow students to
foster understanding and religious pluralism; and
exercising his tenor voice in the Peabody Singers and
the Johns Hopkins Medical Chorus.
"I very much appreciate being recognized by USA
Today; it's quite humbling," said Mohammed,
winner of the university's Chester Wickwire Award for
Diversity in 2006, the Johns Hopkins
Exemplary Leadership Award in 2006-2007 and a 2009 Martin
Luther King Jr. Award for Community
Service. "The things I have done are a product of how I was
raised and what I believe," he said. "As a
child I looked up to His Highness the Aga Khan, the
spiritual leader of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims.
The Aga Khan's vision has led to the Aga Khan Development
Network, a group of institutions working
to improve the lives and conditions of people in the
developing world. Thus, as an Ismaili Muslim, I am
passionate about serving my local communities in urban
Baltimore and also the larger world community."
Mohammed was only 4 years old when his parents decided
to leave their home in Pakistan and
make a new life in America. "They lived the American
Dream," he said, "coming to the U.S. with almost
nothing and building something for themselves and their
family."
The early years were difficult: 12 relatives —
Mohammed's uncle and his family came with them —
crammed into a tiny apartment in the Dallas area, without
much money and no health insurance.
Mohammed recalls sleeping on the floor and hearing many
late-night conversations between stressed
parents anxious about a secure future for their kids.
David Verrier, chair of the
Office of Pre-Professional Programs & Advising at Johns
Hopkins,
said, "Salman vividly recalls those early years but not
with bitterness. Rather, they have been a
powerful stimulus to motivate him to devote his life in the
service of others who either are ill, hungry
or uneducated. He also feels it was his first exposure to
the issue of access to health care, which he
continues to be passionate about addressing."
Because of these early experiences, questions of
universal access to affordable quality health
care are not theoretical for Mohammed; they are something
real, a place he has been.
"I know what it's like to be in a situation where your
parents have to decide who to treat: your
pregnant mother, who needs prenatal care; your brother, who
has pneumonia; or you, with a fractured
nose," he said. "No parent should be faced with making that
kind of decision, but parents here and in
other countries face that kind of a dilemma every day. My
goal is to work hard and help effect change
in that area."
Mohammed is particularly proud of his role in bringing
free hemodialysis to poor patients in his
native Pakistan. Before coming to Johns Hopkins, he
participated in a nine-week clinical program for
students held at the Aga Khan University Hospital, where he
noticed that many patients were
suffering from kidney disease due to a diet high in sodium
and a lack of good health care. Years later,
he had not forgotten those patients, so during a trip to
Pakistan to visit his hometown he set up a
meeting with an executive at a large pharmaceutical company
who had pledged to donate medications
to an earthquake-ravaged area and to rebuild several
schools. Mohammed was able to bring together
officials from the pharmaceutical company and
administrators at a private hospital in Hyderabad to
create a clinic that now treats renal dialysis patients and
provides them with clean water.
"The clinic today consists of one male and one female
doctor, two pharmacists and a ward boy
for maintenance of the center," Mohammed said. "We are able
to treat one patient at a time, with
each hemodialysis treatment lasting approximately two to
three hours, and in total we see six patients
a day."
Mohammed's astounding success at such a young age has
convinced those who know him that
whatever he dreams, he will achieve.
"Salman's warmth of personality and generosity of
spirit are deeply rooted in the respect he
holds for all," said Amy Brokl, a senior admissions officer
at Johns Hopkins. "Students, their families,
fellow volunteers and especially my colleagues are drawn to
this part of him. Throughout my nine years
at Johns Hopkins Institutions, I have had the opportunity
to work with innumerable students whose
eyes were set on medicine, and Salman is one in whom I have
unfailing confidence."
Bill Tiefenwerth, director of the Homewood campus's
Center for Social
Concern, calls
Mohammed "a promise keeper in the way he approaches
life."
"[His] dedication as an undergraduate has a direct
bearing on how he will approach his medical
education as well as the practice of medicine later in
life," Tiefenwerth said.
Mohammed is typically modest when faced with such
compliments, and he quickly puts the
conversation back where he wants it: on other people.
"I am tremendously grateful for all of the
opportunities that I have been given and hope to
make the most of them in order to do something to make a
difference to other people," he said.
After graduating, Mohammed will apply to medical
school and spend the next year in Baltimore,
trying to broaden the reach of the Community Building and
Social Change group he started at JHU.