Supporting healthy communities around the world
Daniel Zoughbie is founder, CEO, and president of the Global Micro-Clinic Project (GMCP), an organization that partners with health care professionals, academia, government, and citizens to prevent and manage diseases in the developing world. Zoughbie's interests and community service activities combine the fields of international development, global health, international relations, and higher education. Started in 2005, while Zoughbie was still a college student, GMCP now has projects in India, Kenya, and the Middle East.
After taking classes in the San Mateo County Community College District, Zoughbie received his B.A. in Urban Studies (2006) with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. He has received many honors and awards including the Marshall and Weidenfeld Scholarships for graduate studies at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Affinity Magazine: How did you come to attend the San Mateo County Community College District colleges?
I had my first SMCCCD experience at "College for Kids," a summer program designed to introduce middle school students to the world of higher education. That summer was one of the best of my life. I not only took elementary classes in Japanese and Spanish but also learned how to make some favorite dishes, including sushi and tempura. I enjoyed the experience so much that I later decided to take classes at SMCCCD before enrolling at UC Berkeley.
What bearing did your experience at SMCCCD have on your future endeavors?
At the College of San Mateo I met Professor Zelte Crawford, who operated a youth crime prevention program. Though I had actively participated in community service activities growing up, Dr. Crawford, a Stanford–educated sociologist, provided me with the opportunity to join scholarship with service. Through my volunteer work with Professor Crawford, I was able to secure significant donations for the program while learning about anti-social behavior in the Bay Area. This experience gave me added confidence that I could tackle serious problems not only in my own country, but also in foreign lands.
About GMCP
The Global Micro-Clinic Project partners with communities to identify widespread and debilitating public health problems and develop a response program through micro-clinics. Each micro-clinic is established organically and comprises up to 15 members who work together to address the biological and sociological aspects of their disease. Each community’s network of micro-clinics are connected with medical, technological, educational, and social resources and educated and trained to create a more informed and effective program. Projects are evaluated on medical, ethnographic, behavioral, and psychological measures to continually improve efforts.
I eventually decided to attend UC Berkeley and was subsequently awarded Marshall and Weidenfeld Scholarships for graduate studies at the University of Oxford. At Berkeley, I founded the Global Micro-Clinic Project (GMCP), a nonprofit organization working to prevent and manage diseases in economically disadvantaged parts of the world.
What was your experience like at SMCCCD?
I appreciated the warm community college atmosphere and welcomed every opportunity to interact with highly educated faculty members who claim teaching as their vocation, in the truest sense of the word. I have found the SMCCCD community to be a space in which different worlds meet. Our community colleges are places where students coming from various backgrounds can learn together as equals and pursue answers to fundamental questions.
What inspired you to start GMCP?
My grandmother died from diabetes in Palestine, and through numerous other experiences, I came to realize the staggering dimensions of the devastating diabetes epidemic sweeping the region. It is, in short, one of the great threats to regional economic, social, and political stability.
What motivated you to become a board member at SMCCC Foundation?
I feel honored to have been named a member of the SMCCCF board. During these difficult times, great community colleges need all the help they can get. In my view, SMCCCD is an exemplar among public community colleges. I hope that together my colleagues and I can develop innovative ways for our community to get involved in funding the future of colleges like ours, for in doing so, we not only fund the future of our immediate communities, but indeed the state, and the nation.
What would you say about our community colleges to high school students as they ponder their educational future?
I would recommend that they consider enrolling in a community college either during or after high school, or both. The education they receive at SMCCCD will be of an exceptionally high quality, and they will be introduced to opportunities and people they might not otherwise come across.