Amal Abdelfattah, 28, grew up in the Philadelphia area, daughter of a Palestinian father and a Native American mother.

Amal is pursuing a master’s degree in occupational therapy at Trinity Washington University. After obtaining her BS from Temple University in recreational therapy – the use of activities to meet physical and emotional needs of individuals – she practiced that profession for five years. She worked with occupational therapists and learned that they are skilled in holistic healing of people with disabilities. This inspired her to expand her professional training.

Fluent in Arabic, Amal has tutored refugee children, helping them with homework and team-building activities. She has also interpreted for English-speaking therapists providing early childhood home-based therapy to Arabic-speaking families.

Amal is dedicated to working with underserved communities, influenced by her multicultural identity and personal experiences. She foresees working with refugees and trauma victims, both in the US as well as at international sites for displaced persons. Amal knows that while occupational therapy is an expectation for recovering patients in the US, it is rarely accessible for persons in many other parts of the globe. Her attitude is to look at what people can do, not what they cannot do, and to build on their strengths.

Amal’s love for cooking has given her opportunities to bond with immigrant and refugee women who are hard-working and yet underserved trauma survivors themselves.

Allison Martin is pursuing a master’s degree in nursing administration at Trinity Washington University. Allison has earned two bachelor’s degrees—one in biology from Tennessee State and one in nursing from Howard University. Allison, who hails from Tennessee, has worked as a nurse in critical care, home health and in outpatient settings. She currently serves students and staff at the Trinity Health Center while studying for her degree. In her spare time, she volunteers with area food banks, collects clothing for unhoused women and those in shelters, and, at her church, shares information about health and wellness with members.

Allison is focused on advocacy to improve work environments for nurses in areas such as workplace violence, safe staffing levels, and equitable wages. She also advocates for reducing the inequities in health care that result from institutional racism, which is affecting both patients and nurses. This advocacy work, accomplished through her nursing sorority and professional nurses’ association networks, is aimed at both legislative and policy changes in the health care system. She will continue with her new degree to work actively as a bedside nurse, to maintain her connection to the issues that require advocacy and policy change.