After witnessing the inadequate heart healthcare South Asians receive, junior Kairah Maqsood decided to make it her mission to advocate for change. According to the Stanford South Asian Translational Heart Initiative (SSATHI), people of South Asian descent are at a significantly higher risk for heart and vascular disease than any other ethnic group. Maqsood has experienced this firsthand.

“My grandpa was from a rural part of Bangladesh and he didn’t receive the proper care when he had a stroke,” Maqsood said. “He was misdiagnosed for just dehydration.” 

Her grandfather’s misdiagnosis was a turning point for Maqsood, and the moment that sparked her interest in advocating for better heart health for the South Asian community. 

Maqsood joined the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Teen of Impact campaign, a nine-week-long initiative running from February 7 to April 10, designed to raise awareness and fund cardiovascular health research. Maqsood, along with 12 other high school students from Sacred Heart Preparatory and Menlo-Atherton High School, collaborated with the AHA to organize fundraising events.

“We have been working with AHA to figure out different statistics that we can use to leverage our fundraising and learn more about the field,” Maqsood said. “I really want to raise a lot of funds for it because research is kind of the driving force that will change the way people approach the disease and future treatment options.”

Hoping to engage her community and initiate change, Maqsood and her group at the Teen of Impact campaign have been working with the SSATHI. The treatment and research center seeks to help South Asian communities better understand risk factors, develop targeted treatment plans for individual patients, and improve ​​cardiovascular care. 

With the SSATHI, Maqsood helped host the Inaugural 2025 South Asian Cardiovascular Health Symposium on April 8, an event open to the community where Stanford faculty spoke about heart disease signs and risk factors.

“Since this is run by teenagers and high school students, this is a way that we wanted to engage our communities by appealing to a different audience and doing an event like this that could cater to them more specifically,” Maqsood said.

Through her experience raising awareness for heart health, Maqsood has been able to learn and relate to friends and families across the Bay Area that share similar experiences to hers.

“I think it’s been really rewarding to hear their stories and hear why people are so passionate about advocacy work that involves this,” Maqsood said. “Just knowing that what I’m doing could help people feel more comfort, and knowing that there’s work being done to help this disease, I think that’s been the most rewarding part.”