Two Duke Alumni Named to 2024 Samvid Scholars Cohort

Duke Today

Two Duke Alumni Named to 2024 Samvid Scholars Cohort

Two Duke alumni, Carlee Goldberg, T’22, and Faraan Rahim, T’23, have received the Samvid Scholarship. They were among 20 scholars selected from a pool of more than 1,000 applicants. The program awards up to $100,000 towards tuition and fees for two years of graduate study.

Carlee Goldberg, originally from Parkland, Fla., graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in political science and history with high distinction. She was an A.B. Duke Scholar and a Nakayama Public Service Scholar. Following her undergraduate studies, Goldberg earned an MSc in Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation at the University of Oxford as a Rotary Grant Scholar.

A recipient of the 2021 Truman Scholarship, Goldberg’s research focus is in violence prevention and civic engagement. She studied gun violence from multiple disciplines, including with the Duke Center for Firearms and the Duke School of Medicine through the Juvenile Delinquents and Adult Gun Laws Study. She also researched gun violence internationally with the International Action Network on Small Arms and the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs.

Currently a J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School, Goldberg plans to advance gun violence prevention through both research and legal practice, working to develop and support community-led solutions to reducing violence.

Originally from Murrysville, Pennsylvania, Faraan Rahim graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in chemistry and minors in biology and global health. He was awarded a Critical Language Scholarship to study Swahili in Arusha, Tanzania. This, along with his passion for medicine and his dedication to global health research, has driven him to expand his work of advancing healthcare throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

As an advanced Swahili speaker, he spent two years conducting medical research in Tanzania, focusing on projects aimed at improving cardiac care in African emergency departments and addressing mental health among people living with HIV.

Rahim is currently an M.D. candidate at Harvard Medical School, where he is studying global health and health policy. He hopes to leverage research, medical training and cultural competencies to advance clinical care and health policy in East African countries such as Tanzania and Kenya.

Samvid Scholars was founded in 2021 by Samvid Ventures to invest in the graduate education of future leaders who are committed to creating positive change in society. In addition to tuition support, scholars are invited to an annual retreat which will offer leadership training, professional mentorship, networking opportunities, and other support to students pursuing careers in STEM fields and the social sciences. Duke students and alumni can receive support for opportunities such as the Samvid Scholarship from the Nationally Competitive Scholarships team at the Office of University Scholars and Fellows. For more information on this fellowship, visit the Samvid Scholars page at samvidscholars.org.