Awards, Recognitions, Honors

Writing Awards​​​

• Winner, Science Story of the Year - Foreign Press Association: FPA Media Awards 2022

  • The Guardian. Pig to human heart transplants are the future. Are we ready for it? August 4, 2022.

• Winner, 40 Under 40 in Cancer - Patient Advocacy and Policy. 40 Under 40 in Cancer Congratulates the Class of 2023.

  • Lancet Respiratory Medicine. The 2021 USPSTF lung cancer screening guidelines: a new frontier. May 6, 2021.

  • TIME Magazine. How to Return to Normal After Having Your Bladder Surgically Removed. July 28, 2022.

  • Scientific American. Most People at Risk for Lung Cancer Never Get Screened: Here’s How to Fix That. September 6, 2022.

  • Nature Medicine. Cigarette package labels to promote lung cancer screening. October 13, 2022.

  • The Guardian. Should we ban the purchase of cigarettes for life? A US town is trying. March 31, 2023.

• Winner, Newcomer of the Year - Association of British Science Writers: ABSW Awards 2023: The Winners​​

  • The Guardian. Voting is significant determinant of health, US medical association declares. July 14, 2022.

  • The Guardian. Pig to human heart transplants are the future. Are we ready for it? August 4, 2022.

  • WIRED. This Follicle-Hacking Drug Could One Day Treat Baldness. September 6, 2022.

• Winner, Newcomer of the Year, Medical Journalists Association: Congratulations to all our winners: MJA Awards 2023

  • The Guardian. Should we ban the purchase of cigarettes for life? A US town is trying March 31, 2023.

• Winner, Student Journalism Award - Online News Association: Portfolio: Student

  • Washington Post. After centuries, we still can’t perform animal-to-human transplants. June 1, 2022.

  • The Guardian. Pig to human heart transplants are the future. Are we ready for it? August 4, 2022.​

  • Slate. How to Raise a Pig for Its Organs. August 30, 2022.​​

• Finalist, Freelance of the Year, Medical Journalists' Association: MJA Awards 2023 — Meet the Finalists

  • The Guardian. Pig to human heart transplants are the future. Are we ready for it? August 4, 2022.

  • WIRED. This Follicle-Hacking Drug Could One Day Treat Baldness. September 6, 2022.

  • The Guardian. Should we ban the purchase of cigarettes for life? A US town is trying March 31, 2023.​​

• Runner-Up, Excellence in News Reporting - Asian American Journalists Association: Written Journalism Awards 2023​​

  • Undark. A New, Transparent AI Tool May Help Detect Blood Poisoning. October 12, 2022.

• Honorable Mention, W. Curtis Worthington, Jr. Essay Contest - Waring Historical Library: Announcing the Winners

• Grantee, Summer Diversity Fellowship - National Association of Science Writers: NASW Fellows 2023

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Academic and Service Awards

• Phi Beta Kappa: 24 Harvard juniors for “exceptional academic achievement in the arts and sciences"

• Detur Book Prize: ~50 Harvard sophomores who "attained very high academic standing"

• John Harvard Scholarship: 5% of Harvard students in the top 5% of their class

• Veritas Award: 1 Harvard student "who demonstrates an exceptional commitment to intellectual curiosity inside and outside the classroom... holds him/herself to a high standard of academic excellence and integrity in the search for truth, and encourages a vibrant and ever-aspiring learning community"

• National Student Leadership Foundation Scholarship: $20,000 award to 8 students for "academic excellence, demonstrated leadership in extracurricular activities"

• Gold President's Volunteer Service Award: given to individuals "whose service positively impacts communities in every corner of the nation and inspires those around them to take action"

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Speaking Engagements​​​

• The Harker School (April 18, 2023): Research Symposium - Alumni Keynote Simar Bajaj

• MIT (February 24, 2023): Guest lecture in Global Health Informatics to Improve Quality of Care, taught by Professor Leo Celi

• Harvard College (December 5, 2022): Guest lecture in Narrative Scientific Journalism, taught by Professor Michael Pollan

• UCSF School of Medicine (November 2, 2022): Vaccine Apartheid: Can we decolonize the distribution of health resources?

• Harvard Kennedy School (September 9, 2022): Vaccine Hesitancy: Between Miracle & Mistrust

• Humans of Harvard College (February 28, 2021): Simar Bajaj

• Providence, Rhode Island City Council (November 23, 2020): National Lung Cancer Awareness Month Conversation

• TEDx (January 29, 2020): Breaking the Locks: Why I Cut My Hair After 17 Years

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Quotes and Press Features ​​

• CIDRAP (August 31, 2023): Cancer patients saw higher mortality from COVID-19

• The Hill (August 22, 2023): ‘Eris’ COVID strain leaves vaccine strategy mostly unchanged

• The Hill (August 4, 2023): Americans largely interested in prescription weight-loss drugs

• Washington Post (July 28, 2023): Nearly 4 million in U.S. cut from Medicaid, most for paperwork reasons

• The Hill (July 21, 2023): New US pandemic office set to launch

• Washington Post (July 6, 2023): More abortion rights ballot measures are coming

• Harvard Crimson (March 29, 2023): Phi Beta Kappa Elects ‘Junior 24’ from Class of 2024

• Harvard University Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (December 2, 2022): Undergraduate Simar Bajaj awarded FPA Science Story of the Year Award

• Estadão (November 30, 2022): OMS sugere aproveitar vacinação contra covid-19 para fazer imunização de rotina

• Healio (August 16, 2022): Delayed vs. early surgery linked to shorter survival in advanced esophageal cancer

• Drug Discovery News (July 24, 2022): Trailblazing scientist changes the view of obesity

• POLITICO (July 6, 2022): Flawed devices and Covid-19 diagnoses

• New York Times (May 31, 2022): The Doctor Prescribed an Obesity Drug. Her Insurer Called It ‘Vanity.’

• New York Times (May 24, 2022): What Vaccine Apartheid Portends for the Climate Future

• American College of Surgeons (May 12, 2022): Delays in surgery for advanced esophageal cancer result in significantly worse survival than early surgery

• The Harvard Gazette (November 30, 2021): ‘Writing to push conversations forward’

• Massachusetts General Hospital (October 15, 2021): ‘Superhuman, but never enough’: Essay details inequities experienced by Black women physicians in the United States

• Boston.com (August 12, 2021): Vaccine honor system may be harming vulnerable communities, say MGH researchers

• U.S. News (February 11, 2021): To Save Their Communities, Black Ministers Preach the Gospel About the COVID-19 Vaccine

• The Hill (January 27, 2021): Black people in the US are getting vaccinated at lower rates

• The Harker School (January 21, 2021): Bajaj ’20 published in New England Journal of Medicine

• The Harvard Gazette (September 15, 2020): Inspired to action, eager to serve: A community-wide effort for Harvard’s first Global Day of Service

• Harker Aquila (April 21, 2020): Humans of Harker: To help, to heal