Hanan Ibrahim

About Hanan

Hanan Ibrahim is a Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow at the National Cancer Institute, supported by the NIH Cancer Research Training Award, where she studies HIV assembly and maturation. Although born in Maryland, Hanan spent her formative years raised in Ethiopia and Kenya before relocating to Florida for college. She graduated Magna Cum Laude in May 2025 from the University of South Florida with dual degrees in Biomedical Sciences and Africana Studies. She has earned multiple distinctions, including the prestigious Golden Bull Award, the Honors College Dean’s Circle of Merit Award in Service, and repeated Dean’s List recognitions. As a member of the Judy Genshaft Honors College, she completed an Honors Thesis on commercial and traditional malaria treatment practices in Ethiopia and Kenya. 

Hanan’s interdisciplinary work bridges infectious diseases, public health, and African diaspora studies. She has conducted HIV fieldwork with PEPFAR Zambia, published a first-author book chapter on Mpox in SpringerNature, received a NIH T37 grant to research HPV-related cervical cancer risk among women living with HIV in Bali, and presented on Afro-Asian diasporic groups in India and Sri Lanka at the Institute on Black Life conference. 

Currently, Hanan aims to address structural inequities through both biomedical and historical research and community-centered engagement. She plans to pursue an MD-PhD to become a physician-researcher who develops interventions that are scientifically rigorous and culturally responsive. She hopes her Luce year will deepen her engagement with Afro-Asian communities in Asia and allow her to translate her research into meaningful, community-rooted impact.