When Khulud Khudur arrived in the U.S. in 1999 at age 9, she didn’t know a word of English. She couldn’t even say hello. Learning to read in English was a struggle too, with the words on the page going from left to right, the opposite of her native Arabic. “It was a culture shock in every way,” says Khudur.  

To make matters worse, Khudur ‘12 H&HD hadn’t attended school for the previous two years. Her family had moved from Sudan to Saudi Arabia when she was 7, with plans to immigrate to the U.S. soon thereafter. But a bureaucratic delay kept them in a holding pattern. Thirsty for an education, Khudur would ask the neighborhood children, “What did you learn today?’’ They would share their lessons with her. 

Khudur has more than made up for her challenging educational start. After receiving a bachelor’s in biobehavioral health from Penn State, she earned a graduate degree in public health from Marshall University and a master’s degree in library and information science from Catholic University, and she recently completed her doctorate in public health at Morgan State University. Khudur also teaches a course in health and epidemiology at Boston Congress of Public Health.

Khudur is also a board-certified epidemiologist and founder of Dr. Khulud Khudur LLC, a consulting firm creating innovative public health solutions. She served as an epidemiologist for the Atlanta-based CDC Foundation during the COVID-19 pandemic, developing policies and procedures for more than 300 facilities, including nursing homes, and developing surveillance systems. In 2024, she was honored with two “40 Under 40” awards, from the Boston Congress of Public Health and the Arab America Foundation. —Cristina Rouvalis