Offender Alumni Association (OAA)
Nidhish Kalyanakumar is a third-year student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, majoring in Immunology in the Science and Technology Honors Program. As a student researcher, he studies how mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), such as a concussion, can trigger post-traumatic headaches that closely resemble migraines. For some people, these headaches last months or years after the original injury. This work has made him aware that brain injuries are far more common among people who have been incarcerated, often going undiagnosed and quietly affecting their health, work, and relationships. Outside the lab, Nidhish volunteers with Equal Access Birmingham, supporting free health care for uninsured patients, and with a crisis and suicide prevention hotline, where he has learned the value of listening without judgment. Through OAA, he hopes to support returning citizens as they rebuild their lives and to learn from the lived experience that guides the organization's work.