For Nolyn Mjema, service is at the heart of everything he does. It's something his parents instilled in him at a young age.
"They have influenced me a lot in terms of being very service-oriented," he says, "and always having a reason of why I'm doing anything that I'm doing."
At Yale, he found his "why" inside and outside the classroom, juggling a rigorous academic workload with community service work through soup kitchens, mobile health clinics, and mentoring middle school students in greater New Haven.
Raised by Tanzanian parents, Mjema was born in Houston, Texas, and lived there for about half his life before his family relocated to Edmond, Oklahoma. Once at Yale, he established himself as a rising star in the study of biomedical sciences, majoring in molecular biophysics and biochemistry while also starting a joint degree program at the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) during his senior year. He'll graduate with his Master of Public Health degree next year.
Mjema, who is a member of Morse College, has spent his academic career bridging the biomedical sciences and social inquiry. While he aspires to become a doctor, he has enjoyed incorporating a public health lens into his research where he's explored questions of health, race, and access. He said that one course, in particular, was foundational for him. During his first year, he took "Sickness and Health in African American History" with Carolyn Roberts, an assistant professor in the Department of History in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which helped him better understand the history of medicine viewed through the lens of the African-American experience.
"It's part of why I'm so passionate about service, especially service of underserved populations," he said.
At Yale, Mjema was interested in getting to know the community outside the classroom and even beyond the Yale campus. During his sophomore year, he started volunteering with the Yale Community Kitchen, a student-run soup kitchen at Yale, which serves people in New Haven experiencing food insecurity. Mjema went on to serve as a shift coordinator and head coordinator for the organization where he helped the kitchen run smoothly, doing everything from coordinating with Yale Hospitality (which donates the food) to managing volunteers. Through his work, he started developing meaningful connections with the people the kitchen served. Mjema still remembers one woman coming up to him during a shift, telling him that she was so happy to see him.
"For them to recognize me and check in on me is very heartwarming," he said.
Mjema also channeled his passion for service into work with the Community Health Care Van (CHCV), a mobile medical clinic that travels around New Haven. As a volunteer, he helped people dealing with substance abuse, including facilitating access to free Narcan as well as syringe exchanges to reduce the risk of HIV and hepatitis C infections.
"People who are experiencing substance abuse are often dismissed or not treated properly," Mjema said. "They deserve so much care."
Mjema similarly brought a lot of care to his work mentoring students at Conte West Hills Magnet School in New Haven through Yale's Black Men's Union. "It's important for specifically Black kids to see that there are people who look like them who are going to schools like Yale," he said. One student event told Mjema he wanted to grow up to be a doctor just like him. Mjema also mentored students on campus as a First-Year Counselor (FroCo) at Morse College.
After graduation, Mjema will start the second year of his joint degree program at YSPH. Eventually, he hopes to apply to medical school.
"I'm building my capacity to serve others as best as I can," he said. "I think that's how I'll lead the next chapter in my life."
