The Team
Salman is a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Miami, supervised by Dr. Weisman de Mamani. His interests lie at the intersection of psychology and religion/spirituality (including Islamic Psychology and Muslim mental health), culture, trauma, and global mental health literacy and care. In particular, he aims to create access to care for those who are underserved, as well as those who are most resistant to mental health care. His clinical interests include spiritually integrated, culturally informed therapy, trauma treatment, serious mental illness, and neuropsychological assessments. Salman is an Alkaram Institute Islamic Psychology Research Fellow.
Website: www.ssa.one
Merranda is a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Miami, supervised by Dr. Weisman de Mamani. She is currently completing her pre-doctoral clinical internship year at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. Merranda is passionate about developing interventions for underserved populations that use their religious and cultural strengths as touchstones throughout treatment. She plans to continue serving the Muslim community, especially those experiencing serious mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, throughout her career.
Merranda has eight years of experience working with serious mental illness populations, and over four years as a clinician for clients across a range of disorders (e.g., schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, eating disorders) and cultural/religious backgrounds.
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Merranda-Mclaughlin
Dr. Weisman de Mamani is a Professor and Associate Director of the Adult Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Miami. Her research has addressed the cultural, familial, and religious factors that influence the course of serious mental illness and the mental health of supportive family members. Her work with fully bilingual Hispanic/Latinx individuals has also furthered our understanding of how language and cognitive factors may impact psychotic symptoms. Dr. Weisman de Mamani has recently published a manual on her seminal work, Culturally Informed Therapy for Schizophrenia (CIT-S), an evidence-based 15-week family therapy that draws upon members’ cultural beliefs, practices, and traditions to help them conceptualize and manage mental illness.
Arhum Saleem, M.D. Candidate
Psychiatry Coordinator
asale046@med.fiu.edu
Psychiatry Coordinator
asale046@med.fiu.edu
Arhum is an M.D. candidate at FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. His interests lie in treatment-resistant depression, global mental health, and bridging the gap in mental health seeking attitudes of Muslim Americans through community intervention. Arhum has experience with community programs, having founded FIU FIT Fridays, a youth development program focused on improving the mental and physical health of kids in underserved areas of South Florida. Arhum has been serving on the MAP team since 2022 where he is involved in manuscript creation as well as grass-root efforts to expand access to mental health care within the Muslim community.
Arhum developed MAP's Database of Muslim Psychiatrists who are licensed in Florida for those seeking to connect with providers of their own faith.
Abdulrahman immigrated from Yemen to the United States in 2016 to pursue higher education. He earned a B.A. with double majors in Psychology and Religious Studies from the University of Miami (2020) and a M.S.Ed. in International Educational Development from the University of Pennsylvania (2022). Abdulrahman is currently a second year doctoral student in the Comparative and International Development Education Ph.D. program at the University of Minnesota. He is passionate about studying the intersectionality of Islam and modernity, rhetoric and composition, and adult education and human development. A bilingual Arabic and English writer, Abdulrahman recently published an article about Islamic education in Yemen with The American Institute for Yemeni Studies and an op-ed about the experiences of zero-generation students with The Philadelphia Inquirer.
At Islamic Centers in Miami, Abdulrahman has been teaching Arabic to non-native Arabic speakers, a class on Islamic law to Muslim Americans, and recitation sessions on how to pronounce Quranic verses correctly and melodiously. During his undergraduate studies, he was President of the Muslim Students Association at the University of Miami (MSUM) and a research assistant for the Muslim American Project (MAP).
Fatima Amin, B.A.
Fort Lauderdale Coordinator
Fort Lauderdale Coordinator
Fatima received her Bachelor of Arts from Florida International University with a major in Psychology and a minor in chemistry. There, she was a research assistant with the TRIIAD lab, a legal psychology initiative which investigates behavioral interrogative techniques to reduce the indictment rate for innocent individuals within the justice system. Fatima has also worked with Dream Defenders on a variety of community justice issues. In addition, she completed her Emergency Medical Technician training and worked as an emergency care scribe. She continues to work extensively in tutoring and community assistance. Fatima has also been serving as a research assistant for the Muslim American Project (MAP).
Zahra Abouzied, B.A.
Tampa Bay Area Coordinator
Tampa Bay Area Coordinator
Zahra is currently pursuing her Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology at the Florida School of Professional Psychology. She has a specific focus and passion towards serving the Middle-Eastern/North-African population in America, as well as defeating the mental health stigma that surrounds the Muslim-American community. She has previously served Syrian and Palestinian refugees displaced in refugee camps in Jordan through Helping Hand as well as advocated for justice through the Students for Imam Jamil campaign.
Wafaa Ateyah, B.S.
Gainesville Area Coordinator
Gainesville Area Coordinator
Wafaa is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Florida. She received her B.S. in Psychology and B.A. in Women’s Studies with a minor in Health Disparities in Society. After graduating with her bachelor’s, Wafaa worked as a research associate and health disparities and health promotion research internship coordinator. Wafaa’s prior research involvement focused on conducting community-based participatory research to promote health and culturally sensitive health care, particularly among racial/ethnic, low-income, and medically underserved communities.
After completing her Ph.D., Wafaa hopes to attend law school, where she hopes to learn more about human rights, international law, and mental health policy from a legal perspective. Through her work, Wafaa hopes to use her education, voice, and privilege to advocate for oppressed, marginalized, underserved, and underrepresented groups – both locally and globally.