The Samya Rose Stumo Memorial Fellowship for Global Health

Samya Stumo was an emerging leader in global health. As described by her family, “Samya was passionate about revolutionizing global health, especially reducing inequalities and fostering empowerment for women and girls. She cared most about treating all people and patients as human beings, particularly in the context of their culture, family, and individuality.”  

Samya died tragically at age 24 in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 on March 10, 2019. Samya was early in her career at ThinkWell Institute (ThinkWell) but had already made a lasting impact within the global health realm.  

Samya’s family and ThinkWell colleagues created the Samya Rose Stumo Memorial Fellowship program in her memory. This fellowship identifies and accelerates the trajectory of emerging female leaders in global health and serves as an avenue to develop their ideas. 

The Fellowship is entering its third year and will serve fellows in Indonesia, Kenya, and the Pakistan. Selected fellows will work for a 10-month period under the mentorship of select ThinkWell employees and global health experts.  

The fellowship is implemented by the ThinkWell Institute, a 501(c)(3), and is governed by the Stumo family. 

PURPOSE AND SCOPE 
The Samya Rose Stumo Memorial Fellowship for Global Health is designed for exceptional young women from low-income countries who want to ask and answer radical questions aimed at reshaping global health financing. We understand that these individuals may face obstacles in pursuing their ideas and career advancement given current global health funding priorities or personal financial constraints. Therefore, the goal of the fellowship is to provide real project experience, professional development training, mentorship, and financial support to launch fellows’ careers. We aim to empower these young women to revolutionize the health financing space by giving them an opportunity to work with ThinkWell’s Strategic Purchasing for Primary Healthcare team to explore and pursue a Gender and Strategic Purchasing & Health Financing project for 10 months. Throughout the fellowship they will be assigned a senior in-country mentor to guide them and equip them with the skills and a foundation they need to bring about meaningful change.  

1. Fellows will also be part of a cohort where they receive bi-weekly mentorship and/or didactic sessions by leading ThinkWell employees as well as other subject matter experts. Sessions will impart knowledge and build skills, helping fellows to formulate innovative questions, solve challenges, build meaningful relationships, and expand their professional networks.  

ELIGIBILITY 
We seek applications from women who are early in a global health career, have demonstrated leadership in their communities, and are interested in challenging the inequities present in global health.  

Applicants must identify primarily as residents of Kenya, Indonesia, and Pakistan and must be willing to commit 20 hours per week throughout the 10 months of the fellowship. The fellowship stipend is meant to be a supplement to other income to support active participation. 

Applicants must embody ThinkWell's core values, exhibit professional excellence and potential, and share our belief that every citizen deserves access to affordable, quality health services.   

ThinkWell Core Values are: 

Think big
Influence the conversation 
Empower others 
Be exceptional 
Always question 
Relate authentically 
Evolve by learning 

 Applicants Shall:  

• Be able to communicate in written and spoken English 
• Have the ability/knowledge of doing research in policy/health 
• Have the capacity to dedicate a minimum ~20 hours per week to this project 
• Be available for meetings outside standard working hours to accommodate global timeframes 
• Be authorized to work in Kenya, Indonesia, and Pakistan. This fellowship does not offer allowances 

The fellowship will accept promising women applicants from Kenya, Indonesia, and Pakistan.  

APPLICATION PROCESS 
Interested individuals are encouraged to apply by sending: 

• CV outlining education, experience, and accomplishments 
• 1 letter of recommendation describing how the candidate exemplifies strong merits in and commitment to the field of global health  
• Select 1 prompt below and write a 300-word statement of interest: 

• Describe how you would revolutionize primary healthcare access to be more gender inclusive.  
• How are healthcare services funded or financed in your country and what gender-driven factors hinder access to health services for women and girls? 

• Answers to the following questions (maximum 200 words per question)   

• What is a radical question or innovative idea that you would like to see addressed in the field of global health? 
• Which professional accomplishments to date are you proudest of? 
• What is your ultimate professional goal in the field of global health? 
• This is a career advancement fellowship in global health. Please describe a gap in your knowledge or skillset that you would like to gain through this fellowship. 

The deadline for 2024 Fellowship applications is. June 30th , 2024.  

All application materials need to be in English – although letters of recommendation can be in the applicant’s or referee’s preferred language. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered. 

SELECTION PROCESS 
Applications will be reviewed and selected by in-country ThinkWell employees as well as the Fellowship’s board members. Shortlisted fellows will be invited for virtual interviews.  

Selected fellowship recipients will start in August 2024.