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Sona Chikarmane was a 2003-04 Hart Fellow working with the
community outreach and research unit of Sahara House, a residential
treatment center for substance abusers in Delhi, India. She conducted a
rapid-situation assessment in the Bombay suburb Thane, and designed a
community-based research project entitled "Empowering a Community to Address
and Tackle the Issue of HIV/AIDS." Sona also trained researchers at Freedom
Foundation in Bangalore, India, to conduct a research project on the effects
of home-based versus institutional care on children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. For
the second half of her fellowship, Sona conducted a needs-assessment and
capacity-building study of Jehangipuri, ultimately making recommendations on
how to sustain HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention programs in this community in
the wake of an impending reduction in funding from outside donors.
Sona graduated from Duke in May 2003 with a self-designed course of study,
"Culture and Health Policy: Global Perspectives," and a minor in chemistry.
Sona's previous international experience in India included serving as a shadow
intern to learn traditional Hindu Ayurvedic medicine, and conducting outreach
for an eye hospital's various health and social services. As an undergraduate,
Sona participated in Students of the World, an organization that coordinates
community service and documentary trips during the summer; conducted an
independent research project on the anthropological and botanical origins of
Curcuma longa (turmeric) in South Asia and Southeast Asia; and taught subjects
ranging from chemistry to ESL to fellow Duke students, adult education classes,
and Durham fifth-graders. Sona is now a student at Harvard Medical School.
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