Zara Sior is a Global Health Communications & Visibility Intern at Alanda Health, based in the United Kingdom. She is an early-career global health and policy professional with a background in public health, politics and international relations, and experience across research, social impact, communications and community engagement.
Zara holds an MSc in Global Public Health & Policy from Queen Mary University of London and a BA in Politics & International Relations from the University of Sussex. During her postgraduate studies, she developed particular interests in health inequalities, forced migration, gender and access to healthcare. Her MSc dissertation examined the intersectional barriers affecting female refugees’ access to healthcare within Sudan’s collapsed health system, with a focus on gender-based violence and systemic discrimination. She was also selected to participate in the Queen Mary University of London–Cornell University Mediterranean Migration Spring School in Malta, where she explored migration through public health, legal and human rights perspectives.
Professionally, Zara has gained experience across the private, nonprofit and community sectors. At Fitch Group, she supported global social impact and inclusion initiatives across EMEA, APAC, North America and Latin America, contributing to research, communications, nonprofit partnerships and employee engagement. She has also supported corporate social responsibility initiatives at Infosys and worked directly with young people through employability, mentoring and community-based programmes.
Zara is particularly interested in refugee and migrant health, gender and health inequalities, and the relationship between evidence, policy and practice. At Alanda Health, she is keen to strengthen her skills in global health communications, research and knowledge translation while contributing to work that makes evidence accessible and supports more equitable health systems.