Dr. Maryam Amour, MD, MMed, MPH (’15), an internal medicine physician, public health specialist, and lecturer from the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, visited campus in April to speak with the Dartmouth Global Health Scholars and Geisel medical students. Dr. Amour shared her inspiring academic and professional journeys to becoming a leading healthcare professional in both the US and Tanzania.
Dr. Amour started her working relationship with Dartmouth while she was a 4th-year medical student at MUHAS. She was one of the first MUHAS students selected for the DarDar research and training bilateral exchange in 2010, and spent two months on an infectious disease clinical elective at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC). Through a research elective, she produced compelling research with DHMC mentors on breastfeeding knowledge, attitudes, and practices among mothers in Tanzania and the Upper Valley Area.
Dr. Amour has had an impressive career in public health, sprinkled with stints at Dartmouth College, Vanderbilt University, and Harvard University, and is driven by the ambition to serve the greater good. She has organized mass screening campaigns for breast and cervical cancers in Tanzania. In collaboration with Dartmouth investigators, Dr. Amour served as a co-Investigator in a clinical trial to test for TB vaccine among adolescents in Tanzania. This extensive work in TB research helped prepare Dr. Amour for research into another infectious disease; COVID-19. In the current COVID-19 era, Dr. Amour has found herself at the forefront of Tanzania’s public health and vaccine advocacy effort. At the beginning of the pandemic, she and her team conducted and published some of the first research on the efficacy of face coverings. Dr. Amour has also become the face of COVID-curbing efforts on social media to inspire and raise awareness amongst the younger generation. With all her vaccine work, Dr. Amour shares concerns about vaccine hesitancy and the importance of stable infrastructure in impactful vaccine distribution. There is nothing more important to Dr. Amour than the healthy future of Tanzania - the answer lies at the intersection of global health equity and the new generation of healthcare leaders.
Jessica Wang (’23)
Center for Health Equity
Intern
Tecla Coleman, MS, RD, MPH (’21)
Center for Health Equity
Program Manager
