UCLA Fielding School of Public Health student organizes effort to support flood relief in Nepal
Sukrity Ojha, a UCLA Fielding international student and “student ambassador,” is working to support flood relief projects in the South Asian nation.
A UCLA Fielding School of Public Health graduate student from Nepal has organized an appeal to support relief projects in the aftermath of August’s devastating floods in the small Himalayan nation.
Sukrity Ojha, a second year student in the master of public health program in UCLA Fielding’s Department of Epidemiology, organized a fundraising appeal shortly after the Aug. 26 flooding in Nepal. The floods took more than 1,300 lives, and more than 5,000 other people remain missing, Nepalese officials have said.
“Nepal is my home, so it is very difficult seeing the people suffering while I'm so far away,” said Ojha, who has lived in the U.S. since 2022, when she began her college education as an undergraduate at Oregon Health & Science University and Portland State University (OHSU-PSU), the state’s public medical and health sciences college. “It has been really sad and devastating to see what has been happening, and so I wrote an e-mail with what had happened, including the Nepalese government’s disaster fund, and UCLA Fielding student services was very supportive.”
Ojha is one of nine of the Fielding School’s 2026 class of “student ambassadors,” who work to connect the school’s students with academic and administrative staff, including the offices of Graduate Student Services, Undergraduate Student Services, and Career and Professional Development, among others. The program was founded in 2017, and the students represent UCLA Fielding on student panels, at the school’s Open House and Admitted Students Day, and assist with the recruitment, retention, and mentorship of all UCLA Fielding students.
“Sukrity is a great example of the student ambassadors, both in terms of what she brings to the post as a mentor to other students, because of her own experience as a graduate and undergraduate far from home, and her academic success,” said Dr. Julienne Jose-Chen, UCLA Fielding’s senior assistant dean for student services. “We already had welcomed her into the Student Ambassador program, but when she came to us in August with her project to respond to the disaster in Nepal, we agreed it is a great example of how the school and our students can help build a healthier future, here in the U.S. and overseas.”
Ojha, who earned a B.S. in Public Health Studies from OHSU-PSU, has worked at the Multnomah (Ore.) County Health Department and UCLA’s Biobehavioral Assessment and Research Center (BARC), which promotes research on high impact science that the National Institute of Health (NIH) have identified as high-priority areas of public health research, including substance abuse, sexually transmitted infectious diseases, and mental health.
“I have really enjoyed working at BARC, and after my MPH, I would like to work in applied epidemiology, especially around questions of access to care,” Ojha said. “I would love to help turn research findings into practical improvements in healthcare programs and policy.”
Among those, she mentioned, is simply increasing awareness of how important simple practices regarding mental health can be for anyone, even those not outwardly dealing with stress or physical illnesses.
“I also want my classmates, and anyone reading this, to understand that a lot of people might be carrying a lot of worries while they're going on about their everyday lives, so taking time to understand what's happening and checking in on someone can mean a lot,” Ojha said. “Sometimes you don't have to know exactly what to say; but just showing that you care can help someone feel less alone.”
