Epilepsy Awareness Month: I Wear Purple for Zayan

About the Epilepsy Foundation:
Our mission is to lead the fight to overcome the challenges of living with epilepsy and to accelerate therapies to stop seizures, find cures, and save lives. 1For more than five decades, the Epilepsy Foundation has shone a light on epilepsy. The Foundation and its nationwide network of nearly 50 partners connects people to treatment, support and resources; leads advocacy efforts; funds innovative research and the training of specialists; and educates the public about epilepsy and seizure first aid.

About the Zayan Shamayeen Memorial Award:
Friends and family of our dear Zayan are raising funds to fulfill a $50,000 endowment for the Zayan Shamayeen Memorial Award at Emory University. This will be a university-wide award administered by the Emory Center for Civic and Community Engagement and set to launch in Spring 2022. Learn more here.

MORE ABOUT ZAYAN:

From an early age, Zayan Shamayeen had a passion for learning and an astute sense of duty to the community, society, and world he lived in. Observing economic and political disparities in his home country of Bangladesh, Zayan committed his life to learning and searched for opportunities to improve the world around him.

Despite struggling with the daily effects of epilepsy, he left his home and family to study at Emory University (Class of 2018), majoring in Biology and minoring in Economics. Zayan became an outstanding student with considerable compassion for the disadvantaged. Throughout his college career, Zayan conducted research, including a study that examined the impact of family income on health outcomes. In addition to building his knowledge of the life sciences and health care systems, he made numerous contributions to the Emory community. As a founding member and president of the Bengali Association for Students at Emory, he created a community of comfort and acceptance for all, regardless of their affiliation to Bengali culture.

Throughout his life, Zayan had been a proponent of social justice and humanitarianism. He raised awareness of humanitarian crises and created solutions to address them in his own special way. He rallied his friends and colleagues to support relief initiatives responding to Cyclone Amphan, a super cyclone that devastated the Bengal region. As a pharmacy student at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Zayan used his knowledge of healthcare and his relationships with others to create a multilingual COVID-19 guide to make information accessible to those who needed it.

One of the last messages Zayan ever sent had asked if anyone could help a friend who had recently lost their home in a fire. This was the essence of who Zayan was--a compassionate samaritan with a heartfelt and genuine concern for other people. Zayan was an exemplary emblem of the Emory Eagle, who in his distinguished flight could bring many people of diverse cultures and backgrounds under the warmth of his comforting wings. He forged relationships across different groups through his outstanding leadership, organization, and engagements.