About Wan Naszeerah
Wan Naszeerah is an empathy-first public health leader and the author of Debunk with Empathy, a playbook designed to help you navigate difficult health conversations with people that matter.
Born stateless and raised to embrace the Nusantara worldview, Wan intimately understands how health beliefs intertwine with cultural narratives, traditions, and personal experiences. This unique perspective has shaped her approach to public health, emphasizing empathy, cultural sensitivity, and evidence-based communication. Over the past decade, Wan Naszeerah has worked with various individuals and communities in the space of military medicine, social entrepreneurship, and global health. She also co-founded and leads Projek Infodemik, which aims to address health information inequities in Southeast Asian languages. Using human-centered design and community-based participatory approaches, Wan prioritizes listening to and understanding the needs and perspectives of those affected. Wan received a Master of Public Health degree from Yale, where she specialized in infectious diseases epidemiology and global health, and a Bachelor of Science degree from University of California Davis, where she specialized in applied microbiology and biotechnology. Wan is currently a Doctor of Public Health candidate at the University of California Berkeley, where is also a Digital Transformation of Development Fellow, a lecturer, and a mixed-methods researcher. Her current research centers around co-creating a psychological intervention against vaccine misinformation. Wan is an ASEAN Youth Fellow and currently lives in California with her husband and their child (who aspires to be the first astronaut from Brunei).
Born stateless and raised to embrace the Nusantara worldview, Wan intimately understands how health beliefs intertwine with cultural narratives, traditions, and personal experiences. This unique perspective has shaped her approach to public health, emphasizing empathy, cultural sensitivity, and evidence-based communication. Over the past decade, Wan Naszeerah has worked with various individuals and communities in the space of military medicine, social entrepreneurship, and global health. She also co-founded and leads Projek Infodemik, which aims to address health information inequities in Southeast Asian languages. Using human-centered design and community-based participatory approaches, Wan prioritizes listening to and understanding the needs and perspectives of those affected. Wan received a Master of Public Health degree from Yale, where she specialized in infectious diseases epidemiology and global health, and a Bachelor of Science degree from University of California Davis, where she specialized in applied microbiology and biotechnology. Wan is currently a Doctor of Public Health candidate at the University of California Berkeley, where is also a Digital Transformation of Development Fellow, a lecturer, and a mixed-methods researcher. Her current research centers around co-creating a psychological intervention against vaccine misinformation. Wan is an ASEAN Youth Fellow and currently lives in California with her husband and their child (who aspires to be the first astronaut from Brunei).
Nusantara is a blanket term used to describe a region in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and parts of the Philippines. Despite current geopolitical boundaries and ethnic diversity, the historical connections among these areas have fostered shared cultural practices, languages, and traditions.
Debunk with Empathy is inspired by her personal journey and professional encounters as well as those who choose to avoid rather than engage in meaningful health discussions with people that matter. Aiming to help readers combine empathy with scientific rigor, Wan offers a heartfelt and evidence-based guide to approaching health conversations with hati and rasa, two concepts from her Nusantara culture.
She invites you to join her in reshaping health communication by preordering Debunk with Empathy today and connecting with her on Instagram, LinkedIn and email newsletter.
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