Shrida Pandey graduates from UC Berkeley School of Public Health with a tassel of awards
High recognition from the chancellor’s office, the university, and the School of Public Health
- 4 min. read ▪ Published
In an unusual triple honor, graduating senior Shrida Pandey, BS ’26, has won a Chancellor’s Award for Public Service, the School of Public Health’s Sheldon Margen Award, and the university’s Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize.
The Chancellor’s annual prize, named the Robert J. and Mary Catherine Birgeneau Recognition Award for Service to Underrepresented Students, honors an undergraduate or graduate student, or student ally, who has performed exemplary service pertaining to underrepresented students, and who embodies UC Berkeley’s tradition of public service and commitment to improving our local and global community. Recipients are awarded $1,500 in recognition of their work.
The Sheldon Margen Award is given annually to a graduating student who best exemplifies Dr. Margen’s voracious curiosity and ability to draw upon multiple disciplines to address the health problems of society’s most vulnerable. Professor Emeritus Margen, a physician who died in 2004, had a passion for learning and teaching and was a pioneer in the wellness field, drawing from the disciplines of medicine, nutrition, endocrinology, biochemistry, statistics, public health, and ethics.
The Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize is named for the late Stronach, who was a journalist, poet, arts patron, and social advocate. It supports intellectual and creative pursuits that heighten awareness of issues of social consciousness and contribute to the public good. Recipients are given the opportunity to extend and reflect upon their undergraduate work by taking on a special project after graduation.
Pandey received the prize to develop Khāna & Care, a community-centered nutrition and health equity project focused on Nepali communities. The project will address gaps in culturally responsive nutrition education by creating accessible, practical, and culturally grounded resources that reflect Nepali food traditions, migration experiences, and community health needs.
Pandey, who studied public health, ethnic studies, and society and environment at UC Berkeley, was surprised by all of these honors.
“I was pretty shocked, to be honest,” she said.
But others will not be. The 22-year-old already has a long track record of public service, She has co-led projects to address health disparities using community-centered, culturally responsive approaches.
She has served as Women’s Clinic Director at the Suitcase Clinic. There, she led a weekly community drop-in space that offers meals, wellness support, and resource navigation for underserved community members.
As co-chair of the Associated Students of the University of California Health Advocacy Commission, Pandey led campus-wide initiatives focused on student well-being, health education, and equitable access to resources.
Pandey has also worked as a research coordinator for the Asian American & Pacific Islander Health Research Group, where she supported student-led research programming, mentored peers, and collaborated with community members. Pandey has worked to address Asian American mental health disparities by supporting advocacy and training efforts that promote greater awareness of stigma, culturally grounded understandings of mental health, and more responsive support for Asian American communities, along with advocacy initiatives.
In addition, she also helped co-lead an oral health equity lab project, aimed at reducing oral health inequities in Berkeley.
“I’ve always been really interested in health,” Pandey said. “I grew up in a Nepali American family, and I really saw a lot of health inequities in my own community. When I came to campus, I had a lot of questions on how to solve those problems.
I’m very grateful that I majored in public health, because it really did give me a lot of answers to those questions I had coming in.”
In her nomination letter, her nominator wrote, “Shrida is an outstanding graduating student whose intellectual curiosity, interdisciplinary engagement and commitment to addressing the health needs of vulnerable communities make her an exceptionally strong fit for this recognition.”
Pandey will continue on at the School of Public Health this fall, working toward her MPH degree in the Food, Nutrition and Public Health 4+1 program.
