Applied Psychology Alum Raises Big Funds for Pediatric Hospital in Pakistan

Ayesha Raza’s fundraising efforts have contributed more than $260,000 to the National Institute of Child Health.

Babies lay on hospital beds while people attend to them

Through her college alumni association, Ayesha Raza (MA ’25, Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness) is helping provide much needed improvements for the only free pediatric hospital serving Sindh and Balochistan in Pakistan.

Raza attended Kinnaird College for Women in Lahore, Pakistan, one of the largest, most diverse women’s colleges in the country, before moving to the United States and pursuing a career as a graphic designer. Years later, she and her husband moved back to Pakistan, but this time to Karachi—an area in which neither of them had any friends or family.

“I met a woman in a coffee shop one day who also went to Kinnaird, and she mentioned that the alumni society [Old Associates of Kinnaird Society (OAKS)] had a chapter in Karachi and that I should join,” says Raza. “At my first meeting they were having elections for different representatives, so I volunteered and began doing charity work for them.”

OAKS’ mission is to care for every child for every reason, and the main charity they support is the National Institute of Child Health (NICH). During her tenure as vice president and then president of OAKS Karachi Chapter from 2020 through 2024, Raza spearheaded the fundraising and launch of four critical pediatric units at NICH, fully funded through community support.

“NICH works continuously to save the lives of children, so we want to do everything we can to support them,” says Raza. “With the help of our generous donors, we ensure that much needed funds are available for them to research emerging trends in pediatric care, hire staff, and purchase lifesaving equipment.”

Young children lay in hospital beds as others observe them.

The OAKS Karachi Chapter runs and staffs the 4th and 5th floors at NICH. Their support has helped to launch a 10-bed High Dependency Unit, an 8-bed Pediatric Nutrition Ward for malnourished children, the MAQ Siddiqui 12-bed High Dependency Unit (HDU), and a 15-incubator Neonatal HDU.

“As a public hospital, NICH had a lack of resources that meant each bed could have four to five babies in it,” says Raza. “Over the years, we’ve helped provide 80 infant incubators, eight ventilators, one ultrasound machine, a computerized radiology system, a modern dispensing pharmacy, and other essential tools like phototherapy and thalassemia testing units.”

OAKS also employs 40 staff members at NICH, including nurses, lab technicians, and phlebotomists. Their salary support alone amounts to about PKR 15 million annually.

Raza’s recent efforts have contributed PKR 75 million (approximately USD 263,000) for life-saving services at NICH. Over OAKS’ 22-year partnership with NICH, they have raised nearly PKR 300 million (approximately USD 1 million).

Now having graduated with her counseling degree from NYU Steinhardt, Raza is interning as a mental health counselor for a private psychiatry practice in Queens. She sees a variety of clients, helping them to be empowered by their decisions so they can look at their lives holistically, rather than as a series of events.

“My passion lies in bridging community-driven care with culturally grounded practice and empowering underrepresented populations,” says Raza, whose father was diagnosed with clinical depression in Pakistan a few years before he passed away. “Ultimately, I’d like to help address stigmas around mental health in the South Asian community, perhaps introducing public mental health programs and improving resources for people in Pakistan and beyond.”