Aya Hammad
President, BIDA Student Wing
Aya is a fourth year medical student at the Hull-York Medical School and has been the Vice president for BIDA Student Wing for the past two years. She represents the student body at her medical school as the Lead representative of her cohort with the Student Staff Committee as well as at the University of York as a member of the Student Expert Panel.
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Aya was awarded the national Laidlaw Scholarship and worked as a mentor and maths tutor for students through the Laidlaw Schools Trust. Aya received funding to work on her own research project with leading academics in the fields of haematology and immunology with the Kent Lab at the University of York. Aya also was an intern with World Vision in Zambia in collaboration with the University of Columbia in New York to address issues of child education and protection as well as maternal health.
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As an international student from the UAE, Aya recognises the barriers international medical students face and hopes to work with BIDA SW to provide catered support for international medical students who managed to push through the hurdles of studying medicine in the UK and have great potential but may lack the support to help them tap into it.
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Email: info@bidasw.com
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Aya Hammad
President
Aya is a third-year medical student at the Hull-York Medical School and has been the vice president for BIDA Student Wing for the past two years. She represents the student body at her medical school as the Lead representative of her cohort with the Student staff committee. Aya was awarded the national Laidlaw Scholarship and as a scholar was able to work on her own research project with academics in the fields of haematology and immunology through the Laidlaw foundation. Aya also worked with World Vision in Zambia through the University of Columbia in New York to address issues of maternal health as well as water, sanitation and hygiene.
Additionally, she has been working with a medical education start-up called In2Med for 2 years. This start-up aims to support local and international students alike on their journey into medical school. As an international student herself, Aya recognises those barriers and hopes to work with BIDA SW to provide catered support for international medical students who managed to push through the hurdles of studying medicine in the UK and have great potential but may lack the support to help them tap into it.
Amir Hossien Sharif
Vice President
Amir is a final year medical student at Aston medical school. As a postgraduate international medical student, he has personally experienced different sorts of challenges that international medical students face in the UK. He believes BIDA is a fantastic platform for international medical students in the UK to collaborate and share their experiences to find solutions to mutual problems. His previous leadership experiences leading local societies as well as his role as a course representative will enable him to fulfil his duties as the vice president of BIDA SW. He is hoping to be the voice of international medical students in the UK by undertaking this role.
Arefeh Ghodsizadeh
National Secretary
​Arefeh is the National Secretary of the BIDA SW Wing. She has a long academic and professional history behind her. She has trained as a medical biotechnologist and did some research on the differentiation of stem cells to hepatocytes, then moved to humanities and did a degree in Social Anthropology. Later working on some social projects in Iran, she started her journey as a medical student at the University of Buckingham. She looks forward to using her diverse experience to help the student wing of BIDA grow and have an impact on the quality of experience of both national and international students in the UK.
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Renee Punia
National Outreach Officer
Renee is a third-year medical student and the National Outreach Officer of the BIDA
SW. She has been a part of the BIDA since the start of her medical degree, initially as the UCLan representative and more recently as a Pre-Clinical lead. During her tenure at the BIDA SW, she was involved in designing promotional content for the BIDA SW along with introducing BIDA to many international students. She thoroughly enjoyed these aspects of her role, which led her to become the National Outreach Officer. In her new position, she aims to increase the reach of the organisation along with promoting awareness about the many ways BIDA SW can help make the journeys of medical students smoother.
Emily Rose Wagner
Academic & Research Lead
Originally from Germany, Emily is a second-year medical student at Imperial College London and the academia and research lead of the BIDA SW.
BIDA is all about breaking down barriers in medicine, which is exactly what she aims to achieve in her role with a focus on academia. From running essay competitions to a national conference, she works to inspire and create opportunities for international medical students to develop their research careers.
Rebecca Lee
Peer Teaching Lead
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Rebecca is a final-year medical student at the University of Manchester and the Peer Teaching Lead of the BIDA Student Wing. She completed her Master of Pharmacy at the University of Nottingham in 2018 and is registered as a pharmacist in the UK.
Rebecca is passionate about surgery, research and medical education. Throughout her undergraduate degrees, she has been actively taking up various leadership roles as well as research and medical education opportunities.
With the BIDA Student Wing, she hopes to promote medical education opportunities and deliver peer teaching programmes for medical students.
Paarth Kishan Gupta
Conference Chair
Paarth is a third-year medical student and is the conference chair of the BIDA SW. He has been part of the BIDA SW for the last two years. During his tenure at BIDA, he worked as a University Representative as well as the pre-clinical lead. He has helped planning various events such as the OSCE webinar series and pre-clinical teaching series. He has also supported the “Beauty in Diversity” charity which was started by BIDA SW during the pandemic, to support families of UK frontline healthcare workers. Paarth hopes that through his leadership and teamworking skills he will be able to support his team members in providing student doctors with a platform to guide and support them throughout their journey as medical students.
Ananya Srivathsan
Mental Health & Wellbeing Lead
​Ananya is a 4th-year medical student at the University of Glasgow. She came from Bangalore in India, and she has experienced what it feels like to study and live away from home, in a whole new country. However, she came here and found herself within a whole new community and culture and has grown to enjoy and love it. She aims to be able to share this experience and help other medical students to enjoy their journey.​
Hossein Bonab
BIDA SW - BMA Liason
Hossein is a 4th-year medical student from Aston University, Birmingham. He enjoys exploring world and healthcare politics and being part of a bigger change. He is planning to use his experience and connections to represent the BIDA SW to the BMA making sure international students’ voice is heard nationally.
Prashamsa Manchiraju
BIDA Journal Representative
Hossein is a 4th-year medical student from Aston University, Birmingham. He enjoys exploring world and healthcare politics and being part of a bigger change. He is planning to use his experience and connections to represent the BIDA SW to the BMA making sure international students’ voice is heard nationally.
Khansa Irfan
Career Guidance Lead
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Khansa Irfan is a Third year Medical student at University of Central Lancashire and is the Career Guidance Lead with BIDASW this year. She previously undertook the role of UCLan Phase 1 student representative which she enjoyed as it gave her the opportunity to network with the students and professionals.
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She is also serving nationally as a UCLan Medical Student Representative for Pakistan Association of Medical Students and Academics (PAMSA).
As an International student, she fully understands the need for career guidance and support early on in order to successfully accomplish milestones during the medical education and training. She looks forward to contributing to the momentum BIDASW has been generating for student success in the last couple of years.
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