STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Rishty Tabassum’s summer 2025 experience in Bangladesh

Risthy Tabassum, M28
syeda.tabassum@tufts.edu

This summer, I returned to the very place that first inspired me to become a physician—Bangladesh. I can recall the mix of excitement and nerves as the plane left JFK. After 11 years, I was finally going back—this time as someone who had just completed her first year of medical school.

For the month of July, I was an intern at Dr. Firdausi Qadri’s Mucosal Immunology and Vaccinology Laboratory at the International Center for Diarrheal Research (ICDDR, B). Dr. Qadri is a renowned scientist, best known for her work in vaccine development and advocacy. I received a warm welcome from her team and quickly became accustomed to calling everyone “Appa” (sister) or “Bhai” (brother). My role was to observe and ask questions, which allowed me to get a feel for the various projects led by Dr. Qadri and her colleagues.

This was during one of the first field visits where blood was being collected in the home of a study participant. I loved being able to embrace traditional clothing which was typical professional attire for work.

I received exposure to different aspects of both clinical research and medical care. I visited the hospital at ICDDR, B, which offers nearly free care to anyone with diarrheal symptoms. With enteric diseases like cholera still endemic, the hospital sees 400–500 patients each day. I later had the opportunity to join patient rounds, during which I was surprised by just how much I had learned from my first year at TUSM. I particularly enjoyed attending an educational session at the Nutritional Rehabilitation Unit, where mothers were taught to prepare a nourishing kichuri with aloo, daal, and saag. In another unit, families learned how to make oral rehydration solution (ORS) at home—a lifesaving therapy pioneered by ICDDR, B scientists and now used worldwide to treat cholera.

For Eid-Al-Adha, I went back to my hometown, Moulvibazar, Sylhet, and spent the holiday with my Nanu (grandma) and family, some who I hadn’t seen in over a decade.

One of my most treasured experiences was getting to tag along on field study visits with Dr. Tauheed. Together, we traveled to a few slums in Dhaka where a team was enrolling patients for a cholera vaccine study. During these visits, I was welcomed into the homes of garment workers, rickshaw drivers, fruit and vegetable stand owners, etc. True to Bangladeshi hospitality, many offered me meals and snacks that I regrettably had to decline. I had an opportunity to sit down and talk to some of the families living in the slums.

A visit to Lalbagh (“Red Garden”) Fort in Dhaka with my younger sister, Abbu, and Shimu Khala. I learned that the construction on this fort complex began around the 17th century by the Mughal Empire, but it was never completed.

From these conversations, I learned more about the realities affecting their health: antibiotic misuse without prescriptions, the challenges of living in multifamily complexes with a single bathroom and kitchen, and the financial barriers to not only clean water but also the gas needed to boil and purify it. I’ve often been told that you cannot truly advocate for patients without understanding the social and economic environments that shape their health, and I am grateful to have gained that insight during my time at ICDDR, B. I know these lessons will be invaluable in any future global health work I pursue in Bangladesh.

Tea break! I probably had at least 4-5 cups of tea every day. Fun fact: Bangladesh is one of the world’s largest tea producers!

I am so thankful to everyone who took the time to speak to me and everyone involved in making this experience happen. A month in Bangladesh flew by, but I know it will remain one of the most formative highlights of my medical education at TUSM.