Abhinaya Narayanan

LoadingAbhinaya Narayanan, Harvard Kennedy School


Abhinaya Narayanan is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Public Policy at the Harvard
Kennedy School. She is also a M.D. candidate at UCLA in the PRIME program focused on
creating physician advocates for marginalized communities. She graduated from UC Berkeley
with a B.A. in Public Health and Integrative Biology and a Minor in Global Poverty and Practice. Abhinaya is passionate about advancing racial, social, and economic justice and equity through activism and policy.

She has previously worked as a community organizer fighting for transit justice in Oakland, CA and as an advocate for Medi-Cal and access to primary care for underserved communities.
During medical school, she served as a delegate to the American Medical Association and
successfully passed policies to address health and human rights violations in immigrant detention
centers as well as fair housing protections. She also co-founded the Health Equity Hub at UCLA
and currently serves as co-chair of the Kenn-MDs at HKS. Ultimately, she hopes to work in the
public safety-net, providing care to those who have been neglected by the medical system, and as
a policy leader, working to dismantle the structures that keep her patients disenfranchised, in
poverty, and unwell.

As Chair of Advocacy of HGC, Abhinaya is committed to serving as a strong voice for campus
and community issues that affect graduate students such worker rights, voting access, Title IX
protections, and diversity and inclusion.

Past Chairs of Advocacy

  • Abhinaya Narayanan (HKS), 2020-2021
  • Jasmin Frankel (HES), 2019-2020
  • Tre Tennyson (HGSE), 2018-2019
  • Dana Rassas, 2017-2018
  • Natalie Yang, 2016-2017
  • Tara Mayo, 2015-2016
  • Nick Zehnner, 2014-2015