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.

Chanelle Bonner is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in nursing. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in health education and practicing in that field for several years, she decided to go back to school for a degree in nursing to achieve her goal of combining outstanding patient care and wellness for both patients and hospital staff.

Born and raised in Monmouth Junction, NJ, with paternal ties to Antigua and Barbuda, Chanelle moved to Washington DC as a young adult heading to college. She was awakened to the importance of wellness and access to quality medical care at the very young age of 8, after losing her 28-year-old mother to breast cancer. In addition to the monitoring of breast health, she has a holistic approach to wellness, encompassing diet, physical fitness, and sufficient rest. Her first degree in Health Education gave her insights into preventive measures that can prolong and improve the quality of life.

What Chanelle has experienced through her hospital internships, especially in the context of the COVID epidemics, taught her deep lessons on racial inequities in access to health care and on the need to secure the physical and mental wellness of hospital staff—where women are the majority—and patients, rather than just providing medical care.

While a full-time student, Chanelle has continued to work part-time as a trainer and do significant volunteer work. She established and leads a walking group for seniors. During the COVID confinement, she gave free on-line fitness classes and collected essential hygiene and toiletries for homeless women and needy students. As a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., she contributes time and resources to such programs as “Back to Work Day,'' where women who are going back into the workplace are aided with work clothes and employment services. In 2017, after Hurricane Irma hit the Caribbean, she collected and delivered care packages to meet the needs of women and children in Barbuda, and did the same in 2021 in St Vincent, after the La Soufrière volcano eruption.

Chanelle is self-motivated, a recognized leader among her peers in both the academic and clinical environments, and an educator with hospital staff and in her community. As a nurse, she aspires to remain extremely positive, influence multidisciplinary teamwork, and incorporate best practices to provide outstanding patient care. She also wants to keep giving back to her community and be a source of inspiration for women and girls so that they can learn to take care of themselves and access medical care when needed.