The heart of it all 

          On December 14, 2022, Vaneeza received a gut-wrenching text while in her dining hall: her grandfather had passed away. He passed away because of many medical complications, one of which was heart disease. After coming to terms with the loss of one of her best friends and favorite debate buddy, Vaneeza realized something alarming that she never actually noticed until then: oftentimes her mom would tell her that she just got a call that someone passed away from a heart problem. 

          This realization catalyzed Vaneeza to restlessly research heart disease, specifically in her home country: Pakistan. From Pakistan to Asia to then across all countries, she saw how heart disease was the number 1 cause of death in most countries. Being the biology student that she is, Vaneeza needed to understand the etiology: what exactly was causing heart disease and in such large numbers? The research demonstrated the importance of lifestyle, and how many of the countries that have CVDs as the leading cause of death also have more poor diets, sedentary lifestyles, smoking levels, etc. A tsunami of questions bombarded the overwhelmed researcher: what can be done? What is being done? How can she specifically help?

          This is when Vaneeza began doing research on organizations and companies specifically for CVDs. She found that although many were present, still the numbers of CVDs deaths were at large. She was confused: could she feasibly do anything to improve CVDs in the United States or globally when others struggle to? She talked to her roommate, Hannah, who asked about lower-income communities specifically. Vaneeza went back to doing research in the United States and saw that low-income people are more prone to CVDs and CVD-related deaths, and one of the primary reasons is because of behavioral risk factors, such as stress and poor diet. 

          Vaneeza could not find many resources that helped lower-income communities with getting treatment for CVDs. She knew how expensive this was, so she looked to see if there were resources providing preventative care, which she also couldn't find. Vaneeza knew that as a college student, she had the capacity to maybe not pay for treatments but at least provide preventative alternatives to lower-income communities that for instance could decrease stress and thus potentially the risk of getting CVDs. She thought that this could be done via a nonprofit to get more funding and volunteers and expand to many low-income communities, healing one heart at a time in feasible way that this optimistic college student could. Alas, Heartful Healings was born.