Nassim Assefi

Nassim Assefi is a doctor, novelist, creative curator, civic activist, and TEDGlobal Fellow. An internist specializing in global women’s health, she cares for vulnerable urban patients (including doing torture evaluations of refugees seeking political asylum) in the US and tackles maternal mortality when working in low-income and post-conflict countries (most recently in Afghanistan).

She is the author of Aria (Harcourt 2007 & 5 foreign translations & recent audiobook) and Say I Am You (forthcoming). She serves as an adviser to non-profit organizations and companies--from Hedgebrook to TEDMED--and has curated many events and experiences—from a session at TEDGlobal to founding TEDxRainier, throwing a Jeffersonian dinner party on the future of the book to organizing retreats for the highly creative. A second generation Iranian-American, bridge-builder and global-nomad, she has traveled to more than 50 countries and speaks five languages. Recent honors include a Jack Straw Writing Fellowship, a Woman of Courage award by the University of Washington, Top 40 Under 40 Feminist by Feminist Press, and being named one of the best doctors by Seattle Metropolitan Magazine. She is a graduate of Wellesley College, the University of Washington School of Medicine, and Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital residency program.