Health Management and Policy graduate connects family legacy to public health mission
Hafsa Usman
Dr. David Satcher Fellowship Fund Recipient
Hafsa Usman, MPH '25, honored her great-grandmother’s legacy of advocacy and education in her student speaker address at the 2025 Scholarship and Awards Dinner, connecting her family’s stories to her efforts in public health.
Usman graduated as part of the class of 2025 with a Master of Public Health in Health Management and Policy from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She is a recipient of the Dr. David Satcher Fellowship Fund and worked with the National LGBTQI+ Cancer Network during graduate school. Last summer, she interned on Henry Ford Health's Health Policy team. Usman has taken on leadership roles as the Department of Health Management and Policy Class Representative and Co-president of Muslim Students in Public Health, as well as membership in the student organizations: Health Policy Student Association (HPSA), Michigan Health Executive Student Association (MHESA), and Middle East and North African Public Health (MENAPH).
The following is Usman's speech from the event with an audience that included Michigan Public Health Dean F. DuBois Bowman, members of the Dean's Advisory Board, scholarship donors and scholarship recipients along with school faculty and staff:
Good evening. My name is Hafsa Usman. I'd like to thank Dean Bowman for the opportunity to speak tonight and to all of you for your presence. I'm honored to stand before you in such great company.
Before I tell you about myself, I'd like to share the story of my great-grandmother, my dadi amma. Born in Pakistan in 1898, dadi was a passionate and fierce advocate for what she believed in. She raised thirteen children and ensured every single one, including all her daughters, received a college education, overcoming the significant barriers women faced at that time. My mother tells me stories of how dadi would rally her friends to attend protests for the independence of India and Pakistan from British rule.
Though she passed away before I could meet her, her persistence has been passed down through generations. I see it in my mother, a schoolteacher in Pakistan who would assign me her own homework over summer vacations. I recognize it in myself as I fight for similar ideals, eighty years later.
My great-grandmother's efforts have allowed me to stand before you today: to study public health at the University of Michigan, to dream of transforming systems that create healthier communities.
There's a proverb that says, "A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in." The seeds we plant and water today will be the same trees that provide shade later in life. An investment in students is an investment in the world you envision. Supporting the University of Michigan School of Public Health secures the education of future public health practitioners at a school committed to equity, transformation, and innovation.
I want to thank Daniel Wolfson and Diana Gonzalez Gandolfi, who have been instrumental in granting me the opportunity to dedicate my time, service, and passion to public health here at Michigan. I extend my deepest gratitude to the benefactors who have supported countless students in the School of Public Health and empowered us to reach our goals. I learn from my classmates every day and am honored to call them my peers.
When I arrived at the School of Public Health, I felt immensely supported by incredibly knowledgeable faculty, staff invested in my personal and professional growth, and a student body that connected me to our greater mission. It was so meaningful to serve as the Co-president of Muslim Students in Public Health this year, fostering the community that I've relied upon throughout my time at Michigan.
What drew me to public health as a freshman at Wayne State University is its foundation in equity, community, and consideration. I've always believed in the importance of lifelong learning, and public health was an ideal field to fuel my curiosity. There's an encouragement to pull on every thread in the web of social determinants to understand what contributes to community health.
I had always been data and research-oriented, until I took a class on LGBTQ+ Health and realized that for many populations, the data and research simply isn't there. Inequities compound into health disparities that go unmeasured and therefore unaddressed. I learned that people sharing their lived experiences can reach further than statistical data.
Public health faces threats from all angles today, and explaining its importance can be challenging. I've had countless conversations explaining my major and professional goals to my parents, but the jury's still out on whether they understand what I do. However, while they may not know what the social determinants of health are or what an epidemiologist does, they understand public health in their own ways.
My father understands public health because he contracted typhoid fever as a child in Pakistan, as did many relatives and neighbors. Comparatively, only about 20 people per year contracted typhoid fever in the U.S. during the same period.
My family members in the medical field understand public health when they share heartbreaking stories of having to tell patients their cancer had progressed to a more fatal stage because they couldn't afford earlier treatment. Almost a quarter of cancer patients skip appointments and procedures due to cost.
My friends understand public health when they share that they're skipping meals to pay for rent, utilities, tuition, and other bills. Nearly 4 million college students in the U.S. experience food insecurity.
For every person in this room, there is a story that brought you to dedicate your time and efforts to public health. These stories drive us to reaffirm our commitment to the ideals that have brought us together this evening, to work tirelessly to advocate for ourselves and our communities.
Tonight, I shared my dadi amma's story to show how impactful your actions, values, and beliefs can be. I hope you'll take my story, along with your neighbors' and your own, as a source of compassion and motivation as we work toward a healthier world.
Thank you.