Samya Stumo was an emerging leader in global health. As described by her family, “Samya was passionate about revolutionizing global health, especially reducing inequalities and fostering empowerment for women and girls. She cared most about treating all people and patients as human beings, particularly in the context of their culture, family, and individuality.”
Samya died tragically at age 24 in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 on March 10, 2019. Samya was early in her career at ThinkWell Institute (ThinkWell) but had already made a lasting impact within the global health realm.
Samya’s family and ThinkWell colleagues created the Samya Rose Stumo Memorial Fellowship program in her memory. This fellowship identifies and accelerates the trajectory of emerging female leaders in global health and serves as an avenue to develop their ideas.
The Fellowship is entering its fourth year and will serve fellows in Indonesia and Kenya. Selected fellows will work for approximately an 8-month period under the mentorship of select ThinkWell employees and global health experts. This year, we plan to have 2-3 fellows.
The fellowship is implemented by the ThinkWell Institute, a 501(c)(3), and is governed by the Stumo family.
PURPOSE AND SCOPE
The Samya Rose Stumo Memorial Fellowship for Global Health is designed for exceptional young women from low-income countries who want to ask and answer radical questions aimed at reshaping global health financing. We understand that these individuals may face obstacles in pursuing their ideas and career advancement given current global health funding priorities or personal financial constraints. Therefore, the goal of the fellowship is to provide real project experience, professional development training, mentorship, and financial support to launch fellows’ careers. We aim to empower these young women to revolutionize the health financing space by giving them an opportunity to work with ThinkWell’s Strategic Purchasing for Primary Healthcare team to explore and pursue a Gender and Strategic Purchasing & Health Financing project for 9 months. Throughout the fellowship they will be assigned a senior in-country mentor to guide them and equip them with the skills and a foundation they need to bring about meaningful change.
Fellows will also be part of a cohort where they receive bi-weekly mentorship and/or didactic sessions by leading ThinkWell employees as well as other subject matter experts. Sessions will impart knowledge and build skills, helping fellows to formulate innovative questions, solve challenges, build meaningful relationships, and expand their professional networks.
ELIGIBILITY
We seek applications from women who are early in a global health career, have demonstrated leadership in their communities, and are interested in challenging the inequities present in global health.
Applicants must identify primarily as residents of Kenya and Indonesia and must be willing to commit 20 hours per week throughout the 9 months of the fellowship. The fellowship stipend is meant to be a supplement to other income as the expectation is not for this to be a full time program.
Applicants must embody ThinkWell’s core values, exhibit professional excellence and potential, and share our belief that every citizen deserves access to affordable, quality health services.
ThinkWell Core Values are:
Think big
Influence the conversation
Empower others
Be exceptional
Always question
Relate authentically
Evolve by learning
Applicants Shall:
The fellowship will accept promising women applicants from Kenya and Indonesia.
Requirements
APPLICATION PROCESS
Interested individuals are encouraged to apply by sending:
The deadline for 2025/2026 Fellowship applications is October 6th 2025.
All application materials need to be in English – although letters of recommendation can be in the applicant’s or referee’s preferred language. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.
SELECTION PROCESS
Applications will be reviewed and selected by in-country ThinkWell employees as well as the Fellowship’s board members. Shortlisted fellows will be invited for virtual interviews.
Selected fellowship recipients will start in November 2025.
Timeline:
For any questions, please reach out to Meera Chakravarthy at [email protected]
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