Saya Kakim is a postdoctoral fellow with The PATIENTS Program at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP).
About Saya:
Saya Kakim is an interdisciplinary and engaged scholar. She earned her PhD in leadership communication at Kansas State University in 2022, with a specialization in community engagement. In her doctoral dissertation project, Saya employed qualitative methods to document community-engaged efforts focused on youth deliberative civic learning. To learn about youth participation in deliberative forums and visual thinking strategies, she collaborated with the Kansas State Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy as well as the K-State Extension and Research Kansas 4-H program.
Prior to joining the PATIENTS program, Saya was a member of the research team at the Kettering Foundation, where her research focused on deliberative democratic practices in communities. She has extensive experience working with diverse communities as well as student populations, both domestically and internationally. Originally from Kazakhstan, Saya co-founded the non-profit organization “Best for Kids” that provides leadership development and career orientation to underserved youth in rural areas. Saya holds a BS in economics from Lomonosov Moscow State University and an MA in economics from the National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia).
She joined the PATIENTS program because of its focus on community-based participatory research. She brings a broad interdisciplinary perspective, research and methodological skills as well as experience working with communities to the team. When she is not working, Saya enjoys hiking, photography, and traveling.
Contact Information:
Email her at skakim@rx.umaryland.edu.