Each year the Carnegie Corporation of New York recognizes the contributions of naturalized citizens with its "Great Immigrants: The Pride of America" initiative. This year, Deogratias "Deo" Niyizonkiza '01 is part of a distinguished group of honorees that includes Google CEO Sundar Pichai; Ronald J. Daniels, the president of Johns Hopkins University; and actress and filmmaker Isabella Rosselini. Past winners include U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks.
Deo is the Founder and CEO of Village Health Works, a non-profit organization in Burundi committed to providing primary health care services and supports programs that provide primary education, local jobs, vocational training, nutritionally-based agriculture training, and basic services such as electricity and clean drinking water. Arriving to New York as a refugee of the civil war in Burundi, Deo went on to receive a B.A. in biochemistry and philosophy from Columbia, and completed his public health studies at Harvard and Dartmouth.
To learn more, visit the Carnegie Corporation of New York website.
