Aryan Zawari, 2021 AWSN Scholarship Recipient

Aryan Zawari and is a 3rd year neuroscience student at the University of Calgary. Her for school and science all started when she immigrated to Canada from Afghanistan as a child. Aryan grew up understanding the extreme privilege she had to attend school freely- an opportunity that wouldn’t be afforded to her before moving, and an opportunity that continues to be threatened in Afghanistan to this day.

Aryan soon learned that gender disparities were not exclusive to just education and were also present in medicine. Ever since high school, she has focused on improving the health outcomes of women and girls through research in DNA-based diagnostic therapies and now in neuroscience research that could be used to greatly improve medicine specific to women.

Outside of involvement in improving women’s health, Aryan has founded the non-profit organization BackUp YYC. BackUp YYC hopes to close the socioeconomic gaps in access to critical educational devices such as laptops and tablets that exist here in Calgary. By recognizing the many nuances and intersectional needs of students, they hope to improve equity in education through fundraising, education, and advocacy at the local level.