Safari Doctors Founder Umra Omar '06 Featured as CNN Hero

Umra Omar received her bachelor’s in neuroscience and psychology at Oberlin in 2006. After receiving a master’s degree and starting a career in Washington, D.C., Omar felt a longing and a sense of responsibility to return to her native country. During a visit to her childhood community on the islands of the Kenya-Somalia border, she learned about a medical aid project that had been abandoned because of the security concerns.

That’s when Omar founded Safari Doctors, an initiative that provides free basic (and potentially life-saving) medical services, including immunizations, maternal health care, and treatment for malaria and other common diseases in the region, to more than 1,000 people a year.

Omar has been featured as a CNN Hero.