For Marwah Azizi, pursuing a Master of Disaster and Emergency Management (MDEM) at York University is more than an academic goal—it’s a personal mission to create positive change and build a more equitable future.
With an undergraduate degree in Public Health, Azizi developed a strong awareness of the systemic inequities that affect how marginalized and vulnerable communities experience crises in Canada and around the world. As an immigrant, she witnessed firsthand how social and structural barriers can shape people’s ability to recover and rebuild. This understanding inspired her to seek a graduate program that would allow her to merge her public health background with a broader perspective on disaster and emergency management—one that integrates compassion, preparedness, and advocacy for those most at risk.
Azizi’s commitment to this work deepened in response to global events. The 2021 Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, which has since deprived Afghan girls and women of more than four years of access to education, profoundly impacted her worldview. “Witnessing such a profound violation of basic human rights reinforced my commitment to a field where I could not only study crises and humanitarian emergencies, but also explore the complexities of international relations and policy-making that directly affect vulnerable populations,” she reflects.
Photo of Marwah Azizi
At the Faculty of Graduate Studies, Azizi has found a community that values inclusion, global awareness, and practical impact. The MDEM program’s interdisciplinary curriculum—spanning topics from humanitarian response and pandemics to healthcare emergencies, terrorism, and crisis theory—has provided her with a comprehensive foundation for understanding the complexities of disaster management. “The diversity of perspectives within the program has helped me think critically about how to approach crises with both analysis and empathy,” she says.
Looking ahead, Azizi hopes to carry the lessons from her graduate studies into her next chapter: medical education. Her vision is to combine medical expertise with disaster and emergency management knowledge to serve in war zones and conflict-affected regions—helping communities in their most vulnerable moments.
Through her academic journey, Azizi embodies the spirit of York University’s graduate community: a commitment to learning that drives positive change and builds a better, more compassionate future for all.