Vestavia Hills native named Fulbright semifinalist

A Vestavia Hills native and UAB alumna was recently named a semifinalist for the 2022 Fulbright United States Student Program competition.

Zahab Aleezada was one of a small number of students named a semifinalist for the prestigious award, which places students in international exchange programs to live and work in foreign countries. While she wasn’t chosen as a finalist, Aleezada said she was still honored by being a semifinalist.

“It was really shocking and exciting for me,” Aleezada said. “I was thrilled.”

Aleezada, a neuroscience major in the UAB Honors College, said she felt validated and appreciated when she heard she was a semifinalist. She didn’t know what to expect with the process, she said.

Her plans were to study and serve as an English teaching assistant in Spain and were she to apply again, she would have a lot of credibility built up, she said. She said she was incredibly proud of herself.

Her immediate future includes working at her mother’s neurology clinic in Jasper as a medical assistant, helping patients who come in for epidurals. Aleezada is taking a gap year and applying for medical school. That process is long and grueling, she said.

“We’ll see what happens next year,” she said.

Aleezada’s goal is to be a physician and to serve Spanish-speaking residents, breaking through the language barrier. She minored in the language and believes it is crucial to be in touch with the Spanish culture because of the large Spanish population in the United States.

“I have always found myself to be comfortable in health care settings,” Aleezada said. “I don’t shy away from it. I tackle it head on.”

Aleezada said she has always admired the role doctors play in society and the impact they can have on their patients.

“As a physician, you have to be able to problem solve complex cases,” Aleezada said.

Aleezada grew up in Vestavia and attended Vestavia Hills City Schools through middle school, going to Vestavia Hills Elementary East and Pizitz Middle School before going to the Alabama School of Fine Arts, where she graduated in 2017. The school system is “really incredible” at helping students achieve their full potential, she said. Aleezada was part of the gifted program while at East, which she said prepared her for ASFA, which she described as “incredibly rigorous.” She said she also benefited from the caring and supportive staff in Vestavia Hills City Schools.

She also credited Vestavia for its commitment to diversity, which allowed her as a Pakistani-American to build long-lasting friendships.

Being a neuroscience major sounds “really intimidating,” but Aleezada said UAB professors are amazing and able to teach students well. She learned brain anatomy and processes, did research and more. While she wrote a thesis for her graduation project, she said it didn’t feel like the biggest burden because of the help she received from UAB professors.

While she plans on applying for the Fulbright scholarship again, it wouldn’t be the first time she has studied abroad. She previously studied in Morocco, working as an English teaching assistant in the African country.