Medical Student Internship Program

MS1 University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry

Monroe County, New York

Mohammad H. Bawany graduated from St. John Fisher College with degrees in Biology & Religious Studies. He then pursued Arabic studies for 1.5 years in the Sultanate of Oman and is presently a first­-year medical student at the University of Rochester. In his reflection, Mohammad shared that “I saw what we, as an ummah, had, and I saw what we, as an ummah, were lacking. In the field of medicine, specifically, I saw how our Muslim physicians have an abundance of modern medical expertise, but very few can say the same for religious knowledge. The (internship) program…allowed me to see a shortcoming within our communities, and have also given me the honor of becoming part of the solution.” Over the course of two months, he published an educational paper on the ethical discourse around breast milk banking from an Islamic perspective in ISNA’s Islamic Horizons magazine and is prepared a manuscript for publication aimed at exploring the ethics of providing hymenoplasty (a surgery to restore virginity) to Muslim women in the West that you can read out down below.

MS1 Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine

New York City, New York

Nasir Malim completed his Bachelors degree in African American Studies at the University of California- Irvine. He then pursued an MPH at Charles R. Drew University in Los Angeles. Currently he is a first year medical student at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine. His Islamic studies have involved 3 years of intensive coursework through the Islamic Scholars Preparatory Academy at the Institute of Knowledge in Diamond Bar, California. Nasir Malim has been blogging about the internship and his experiences in Chicago on both his website and Instagram, with unique content on each. In his most recent blogpost “It’s About That Time,” Nasir recounts about the internship and his time in south side Chicago. He wrote, “another important aspect of this summer was being able to put into direct application things I had just learned. This is such an important step for reinforcing and concretizing knowledge. I wrote an article for a Muslim community newsletter about some of the ethical and legal implications of in vitro fertilization. That was oriented to a general audience that just covered some of the most essential areas of the topic. I am also tasked with doing an academic piece this summer. I’m currently drafting a paper for publication discussing Islamic perspectives and medical treatment practices on intersex individuals. These practical experiences have been great outlets to gain more skill with Islamic bioethics work.”