Sabah Haji
Nan Han, who established the Healing Forward Scholarship, is a former Midtown Utica Community Center student and pediatric resident.
Sabah Haji
Nan Han, who established the Healing Forward Scholarship, is a former Midtown Utica Community Center student and pediatric resident.
UTICA — Nan Han, a former Midtown Utica Community Center (MUCC) student and current pediatric resident, is giving back in a powerful and deeply personal way.
This year, she established the Healing Forward Scholarship, a new award designed to support students from refugee and underrepresented backgrounds pursuing careers in STEM or healthcare.
Nan’s inspiration traces back to her own journey. A former recipient of the Bikash & Kumari Regmi Scholarship established in 2020 in partnership with MUCC, Nan experienced firsthand how much a single act of support can change a life. That scholarship, named after former Bhutanese refugees and tireless community volunteers, supports refugee youth pursuing careers in healthcare.
Today, Nan’s Healing Forward Scholarship carries that legacy forward. According to Nan, access to healthcare was difficult in war-torn Myanmar. Now a pediatric resident, Nan is turning compassion into action, investing not only in medicine, but in the potential of others.
She hopes the Healing Forward Scholarship will do more than fund education, by amplifying voices, removing barriers, and sparking systemic change.
One of the first students impacted by this new scholarship is Sabah Haji, a Black Muslim woman and refugee student studying mechanical engineering technology. Haji shared her story as part of the application.
“My presence in STEM is a refusal to shrink,” Haji said. “Choosing engineering meant choosing myself. It meant breaking from expectations and daring to pursue a future where I could create, lead, and build.”
Born in Nairobi, Kenya to Somali Bantu refugee parents, Haji arrived in the U.S. in 2006 after surviving unsanitary refugee camps and war. She taught herself how to navigate the American educational system by enrolling in college, accessing resources, and mentoring others along the way.
“No one in my family had done this before. I was creating the blueprint as I walked it,” she said.
Her resilience, MUCC officials say, echoes Nan’s vision for the scholarship: to ensure students aren’t just surviving, but leading.
“Healing forward is not just about overcoming the past,” she said. “It is about protecting the future and keeping doors open for those who come after me.”
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