Mehria Nessar

Mehria (Mariah) Nessar is a qualitative researcher, higher education counselor, and practitioner whose work spans medical and cultural anthropology, migration studies, adult education, and critical refugee studies. As the founding director of the Access & Engagement Division, dedicated to providing community-based resources and navigational support to internationally trained physicians facing challenges re-entering the U.S. healthcare system, she currently leads the development of the "Networked Lives" model, a research-informed framework that fosters sustainable pathways for career growth and community belonging.

Her work is rooted in cultural and linguistic competence and influenced by close engagement with displaced professionals and recent migrants. At the same time, she serves as a higher education counselor focused on adult learners, helping individuals navigate professional development paths shaped by disruption, migration, and identity reconstruction. She is committed to human-centered systems of education and labor.

Mehria continues her research and professional activities at Cornell University. Her completed studies focus on methodological experiments in qualitative and ethnographic research related to migration, professionalization, and collective survival in displacement settings. She has presented her work at academic conferences and is preparing a future study on the Networked Lives Approach to Refugee Physician Advocacy, planned for presentation in late 2025.