Lina Yamashita, PhD
Program Director

As a Program Director at VIA, Lina designs programs that aim to cultivate active learning, curiosity, open-mindedness, and cross-cultural empathy among future health care professionals. She’s dedicated to introducing participants to diverse topics and perspectives that students otherwise may not encounter in their schooling. As an educator, she seeks to make visible diverse people, places, and perspectives that tend to be less visible. Fluent in English and Japanese, Lina grew up in Tokyo, Singapore, and Manila and has visited more than 15 countries. Lina has a bachelor’s in biology and environmental studies from Oberlin College, a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a doctorate in education from the University of California, Davis. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, exploring bakeries, taking long walks, and playing with her son.

Hinda Majri
Program Director

Hinda moved to the United States as an international student from France. She earned her BA in International Diplomacy & Cultures and Spanish from Otterbein University. While in college, she worked in the admissions office and was very active with the international students’ organization. She also interned at the Columbus International Visitors Council where she created programs for international visitors and the Columbus on World Affairs before starting her teaching career as a French and Spanish High School teacher. Hinda continued teaching foreign languages but chose to solely focus on teaching ESL after getting her TESOL Certificate from SIT. She earned her MA in International Education Management from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.  As an International Student Advisor and program specialist at CalArts, she was able to continue to offer support and advising to international students as well as design the online international student orientation. Some of her interests are cultural adjustment and emotional health issues experienced by international students, advocacy, empathy building and ESL teaching techniques. Hinda is also an International Certified Health coach. She loves to spend time in nature, hiking, eating vegan food and reading. She is excited to be part of the VIA team and look forward to supporting participants directly or indirectly.

Min Htun Myat Wai
Global Health Fellow

My name is Min Htun Myat Wai, people call my nickname/short name, ‘HtunMyat’. I am now 23 years old and I am a final year medical student from University of Medicine-2, Yangon, Myanmar. My university life has stopped due to Covid-19 outbreak in our country in early 2020 and subsequently the military coup and so I am stuck at home for more than 2 years. During this time, I joined the Parami Leadership Program (PLP) at Parami Institute of Continuing Education (PICE) and got a chance to know VIA and become a participant at the EHC 2022 Spring program. Now I am selected as a fellow for the Summer EHC program and will be with all participants throughout the program.

Musonda Sakala
Global Health Fellow

Hi, my name is Musonda Sakala. I’m a final year medical student from Lusaka, Zambia. I’m a born-again Christian and I like to describe myself as free-spirited, loving and lovable. I’m so excited for this opportunity VIA has given me and I’m looking forward to making new friends, learning new skills and applying myself.

Yuri Sugawara
Global Health Fellow

Hi, I’m Yuri, a fifth-year medical student at Oita University, Japan. I joined EHC spring program as a participant and came back as a fellow this time. I’m really excited to work with VIA’s staff and other fellows, and also looking forward to sharing ideas with the participants. Actually, I always have anxiety about my linguistic ability, but I believe we can help each other and overcome each difficulty together. As to my hobbies, I love traveling, reading books, and playing the violin, and of course I’m very curious about your hobbies or fun facts; I’d be glad if I can get to know you well through this program.