Wafa Alam – Senior Research Fellow
Wafa Alam is a Senior Research Fellow at the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (JPGSPH), BRAC University. She is the in-country lead for the CARE project, overseeing overall research implementation, coordination, and policy engagement in Bangladesh. Wafa holds an MA in Governance, Development and Public Policy from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, and an MPH from JPGSPH, BRAC University. She has over six years of experience at JPGSPH, working across climate change, migration, sexual and reproductive health and rights, urban health, and mental health, with a strong focus on community-based participatory research, equity, and Southern-led knowledge production.
Selima Sara Kabir – Senior Research Associate
Selima Sara Kabir is a Sr Research Associate at the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University with a strong background in qualitative and social science research. Her work focuses on gender, sexual and reproductive health and rights, mental health, and the social determinants of health, with particular attention to urban marginalised and climate-affected populations. She conducts research that centres lived experience and examines how structural, social, and political factors shape health outcomes. Alongside her research, she contributes to teaching and research-led curriculum development within public health education. She completed her Masters in Public Health from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM).
Sajid Sultan Haque – Research Associate
Sajid Sultan Haque is a Research Associate at BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University. In this project he is involved in coordinating research activities, managing research teams, and developing data collection and documentation tools. He also contributes to scientific writing, reporting, and co-authoring journal articles. He has been working in multiple projects focusing on gender, climate change, urban population, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and care-seeking pathways. Sajid holds a medical degree and is an alumnus of the School, continuing his journey of public health research and advocacy within the institution.
Israr Hasan – Research Associate
Israr Hasan is a Research Associate at the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, where he plays a vital role in advancing interdisciplinary research at the intersection of public health, urban studies, and social sciences. His work spans multiple research projects that explore critical contemporary issues including gender dynamics, digital spaces and their social implications, urban environments and their impact on community wellbeing, and creative placemaking as a tool for social development. Israr holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences from BRAC University, where he pursued a unique interdisciplinary program combining a major in Economics with a minor in Anthropology. As a core member of the CARE project team, Israr contributes across several dimensions of the research process. His responsibilities include designing and implementing data collection strategies, conducting rigorous data analysis, and developing innovative research tools and instruments tailored to the project’s specific needs. He conducted extensive literature reviews to establish the theoretical and empirical foundations of the research, and played a key role in organizing and facilitating stakeholder workshops that brought together diverse voices from academia, civil society, and community organizations.
Fariha Nowshin – Senior Research Assistant
Fariha Nowshin is a Senior Research Assistant at the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, working with communities, especially adolescents, on issues related to climate change and sexual and reproductive health and rights. Her work includes documenting community experiences through report writing, scoping and literature reviews, and organizing qualitative research materials. Fariha holds an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Nuriya Sadaf Moin – Senior Research Assistant
Nuriya is currently working as a Senior Research Assistant at the BRAC JPG School of Public Health, BRAC University, with a dedicated focus on public health challenges in Bangladesh, particularly climate change and vulnerable populations in informal settlements. Her work involves comprehensive research activities, from conducting and writing literature reviews on topics like impacts of heat on vulnerable populations and gender narratives in Dhaka’s slums, to developing qualitative tools like interview guides. Nuriya also contributes to scientific writing, co authoring journal articles and proposals on diverse topics, including the socio-physical and mental health effects of heat and climate migrants’ health. She completed her Bachelors of Arts in Geography from the University of Sussex.
Mahmuda Akter Sarkar – Senior Field Coordinator
Mahmuda Akter Sarkar is a Senior Field Coordinator at the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (BRAC JPGSPH), BRAC University, where she has been working since January 2019. She supports and coordinates field activities, including facilitating data collection and working closely with community co-researchers to ensure effective community engagement for the CARE project. She previously worked as a Staff Researcher at BRAC’s Research and Evaluation Division, contributing to multiple research initiatives. Mahmuda holds an MA and a BEd from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her research interests include sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), disability, maternal and child health, and climate change.
Nusrat Jahan Nizum – Senior Research Assistant
Mst. Nusrat Jahan (Nizum) is a Senior Research Assistant at the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (BRAC JPGSPH), BRAC University. She has over three years of research experience in areas of climate change, urban health, and sexual and reproductive health. Under the CARE project, she supports field activities and community engagement, working closely with community co-researchers to facilitate data collection and community-based participatory research. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing from Government Titumir College, Dhaka. Prior to joining BRAC JPGSPH, she worked as a Development Worker for over 10 years at the Acid Survivors Foundation and Human Development Research Centre.
Professor Sabina Faiz Rashid – Mushtaque Chowdhury Chair in Health and Poverty
Professor Sabina Rashid, PhD, is currently Professor, Mushtaque Chowdhury Chair in Health and Poverty (Endowed by the late Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, Founder of BRAC) and was former Dean (2013-2023), at the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She was trained in Critical Medical Anthropology (BA, Masters, PhD) from the Australian National University and joined the school in 2004.
Her research critiques dominant biomedical paradigms by centering lived experiences and structural factors that shape the health and lives of disadvantaged populations, with a particular focus on residents of urban slums, women, adolescents, climate affected populations and marginalised populations.
Over the last two decades, Dr. Rashid has developed a robust qualitative research portfolio that examines how gender, poverty, urban precarity, and social exclusion affect the health and well-being of families and adolescents in Bangladesh. She founded the Centre of Excellence for Gender, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (2008) and co-founding the Centre of Excellence for Urban Equity and Health (2013) within the School. She is dedicated to fostering meaningful institutional partnerships between the North and South for intellectual engagement, knowledge, and capacity sharing among academics, researchers, and practitioners nationally, regionally, and globally.
Care Bangladesh 