Author: Simone Akkari

Simone Akkari is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BSPH in Health Policy and Management and an unofficial second major in International Studies. For her Senior Honors Thesis, she studied Sierra Leone's efforts to improve Maternal and Child Health by analyzing national MCH strategies, policis, and programs. She grew up in Durham, North Carolina and is half Sierra Leonean, a quarter Lebanese, and a quarter Chinese-Jamaican. Simone has worked in a variety of settings since the age of 15, including a portrait studio, a summer sports camp, a contract research organization, and the monitoring and evaluation organization called MEASURE Evaluation. In college, she was a member of the African organization called O.A.S.I.S., was treasurer of the student-run NGO called Project H.E.A.L., and was on the Executive Board of the social justice organization called the Campus Y. She has watched over 1200 films, listens to music almost non-stop, is an avid reader, and thoroughly enjoys watching sports. Although her future plans are not set, she will dedicate her life to being a part of positive social and structural change in developing countries such as Sierra Leone.