2025 Global Access Fellowship with Med Aditus International
Calla Lily Clinical Care, Med Aditus, Roivant Sciences, and Roivant Social Ventures (RSV) have partnered to host the Access to Medicines Internship and Fellowship Program, providing real-world drug development experience to talented PharmD students who are passionate about leveraging their career development to expand healthcare access to underserved patient groups.
Med Aditus International is a nonprofit start-up dedicated to increasing medicine access in sub-Saharan Africa. Med Aditus Kenya is a branch that will be a manufacturing company based in Kisumu Kenya, focused on producing high-quality and affordable medications.
This summer Rawan Morsy served as Roivant Social Ventures' Global Access Fellow, where she volunteered with Med Aditus to support the pharmaceutical distribution and supply chain business in Kenya and East Africa. In her role she worked to:
Research and analyze why a large percentage of the “total cost of medicines to the patient” is captured by distributors and wholesalers, with a lens on how Med Aditus Kenya can influence this business model to reduce the cost of medicines to the patient.
Connect and speak with pharmacists in Kenya and East Africa to understand the challenges faced by pharmacists and their creative solutions to limited supply issues.
Meet with the leadership of Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS), a large faith-based supply chain organizations, to discuss building a potential partnership with Med Aditus.
Work with the leadership of Africa Health Business, a healthcare and health business consulting firm, to discuss the challenges faced by healthcare workers to create solutions to limited supply issues.
Prepare and present a report to articulate key findings and recommendations to Med Aditus' leadership team related to the distribution and supply chain business in Kenya and East Africa.
We sat down with Naomi to learn more about what drives her work and how her summer fellowship with Calla Lily Clinical Care will impact her career development.
What has inspired your interest in developing medicines?
"Coming from an underserved community with low health literacy and limited medical resources, I saw how difficult and inaccessible it was for people to get the proper care they needed. Many residents delayed treatments because of financial struggles or a lack of adequate understanding, which often led to further complications that could have been avoided if they had access to the right resources."
What caught your interest about the Global Access Fellowship that you worked on this summer?
"Roivant Social Ventures’ mission to improve healthcare access really resonates with me, as it aligns with my passion for helping those who often get overlooked. I knew that this fellowship would be a wonderful opportunity for me to combine my background in microbiology, public health, and pharmacy to make a real difference in the world. My ultimate goal is to become a pharmacist who not only provides direct care but also advocates for lasting change in underserved communities. I want to help create systems where patients are not only treated but also given the tools to manage their own health."
What were some of your favorite experiences from your Global Access Fellowship this summer?
"Through my fellowship with Med Aditus, I had the opportunity to travel to Kenya, which gave me a better understanding of what medicine access really looks like on the ground. I visited pharmacies, spoke with healthcare providers, and had many conversations with pharmacists and wholesalers. Hearing directly from them helped me see how medicine prices can vary greatly, especially in areas with fewer options, and how that affects patients. These moments helped shape the direction I wanted to take with the project and led me to focus more on the supply chain and distribution side.
With the support of the Med Aditus team, I was also able to learn more about the different challenges in the system and how some groups are working to improve access by making medication more affordable.
Meeting with organizations like MEDS and Africa Health Business showed me how partnerships and innovation can play a significant role. It helped me understand how everything connects, from policy to pricing to the real experiences of patients."
What impact do you feel your Global Access Fellowship has had on your career goals as a PharmD?
"This fellowship clarified the kind of impact I hope to make in the future. This experience strengthened my commitment to improving healthcare systems and expanding access to affordable medicine. I also feel more confident in my ability to contribute meaningfully and explore areas of pharmacy I hadn’t considered before. I’m truly grateful for the experience and everything I learned from it."
Med Aditus International, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation with a mission to improve access to affordable quality medicines for patients in sub-Saharan Africa. Founded in North Carolina, Med Aditus is deploying in Africa cutting-edge technologies such as portable continuous modular manufacturing and blockchain-powered digital quality management systems. In addition, Med Aditus seeks to contribute to the long-term growth and sustainability of the pharmaceutical industry by expanding workforce capacity, and reducing the pervasiveness of counterfeit and substandard medicines.
Access to Medicines Internship/Fellowship Program
During the Spring 2025 semester the 2025 Access to Medicines PharmD Interns and Fellows all completed "Making Medicines" at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, the top ranked School of Pharmacy in the United States. This innovative course was designed to introduce PharmD students to the new drug approval process and key issues in drug discovery, pre-clinical testing, clinical trials, FDA approval, and global access to medicines.