Omna Siddiqui is a rising senior at Barnard College in New York City, where she is majoring in Neuroscience and Behavior and minoring in Science and Public Policy. Growing up in New York, she became interested in how healthcare and policy intersect, especially in communities that lack access to adequate resources. She hopes to build a career in healthcare that brings social context into clinical practice.
This summer, Omna worked with Dr. Geoffrey Reed on the Flexible Interview for ICD-11 (FLII-11), a diagnostic tool for mental, behavioral, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Her work focused on implementation efforts in Pakistan and Liberia, while also supporting projects in China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, and Georgia. She also worked on the background literature review for a Social Cohesion module, examining current measures of social cohesion and helping to develop a standardized measure that can be included in the FLII-11.
Through this internship, Omna gained a deeper understanding of global mental health research and strengthened her writing and communication skills. She is excited to continue contributing as an intern through the summer and to join the team as a research assistant in the fall.