One Iranian researcher feels trapped in 'big prison called the United States of America' while another Iranian researcher is stuck on the other side, unable to get to Boston to work on precision medicine advancements at a Harvard Medical School lab.

Amanda Pedersen

San Francisco artist Naomi Alessandra created this poster of Samira Asgari to raise awareness of those impacted by President Trump's executive order preventing non-U.S. citizens of seven countries from crossing U.S. boarders. Asgari, an Iranian post-doctorate researcher, is expected to join a Harvard Medical School laboratory but was denied a flight to Boston due to her Iranian nationality.

Samira Asgari is supposed to be in Boston right now, researching cures for tuberculosis at a Harvard Medical School laboratory headed by Soumya Raychaudhuri, a rheumatologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Instead, she was turned away at a German airport as a result of an executive order that President Trump has termed a measure of "extreme vetting."

The action blocks citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days, even with a valid U.S. visa or green card. It also suspends entry of all refugees for 120 days and bans Syrian refugees indefinitely.

Stories of people like Asgari impacted by the ban inspired a San Francisco artist to put a human touch on the issue. "As an artist, I generally paint people," Naomi Alessandra told Qmed. "I feel that humans can more easily relate to others when there is a face, name, and real-life story attached to a news story."

So when she heard about the ban and decided to take part in protests at San Francisco International Airport, 

Alessandra wanted to her poster do just that--tell a true story about an individual "that was needlessly, unfairly suffering because of this atrocious executive order," she said. "It felt more personal than just writing a slogan on a sign."

First, Alessandra created a poster featuring Asghar Farhadi, whose film "The Salesman" is nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign-language movie, but won't be able to attend the Academy Awards ceremony next month because of the president's executive order. "And that hits at the heart of the matter," she said. "We are losing valuable people and treasured cultural connections through this ban."

Next, Alessandra found out about Samira Asgari, who took to Twitter over the weekend after she was blocked from getting on a flight from Germany to Boston as a result of executive order. "I was pretty excited to join [Raychaudhuri's] lab, but denied boarding due to my Iranian nationality. Feeling safer?" Asgari tweeted.

"Her vivid intelligence and youthful spirit made her an ideal character to paint, as all of that came through in the photos that I found online," Alessandra said. "That she is unable to come and be part of critically important medical research at Harvard is a travesty. Her work is doing good in the world for humanity, and she is shut out because of this inane order that discriminates against her on the basis of her Iranian nationality. It's unconscionable for us to go on as normal when she and so many others cannot be free to do their critically important work."

The artist participated in protests at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday and Sunday, an experience she described as empowering. "It was awesome to see so many out there in a show of support and strength," Alessandra said. "The best part of the days for me were my conversations with Iranian nationals or people with Iranian roots who knew of one or both of the people on my signs. They were moved to see these humans with whom they were familiar, and I was able to hear their specific stories, which gave me greater insight into the situation."

While Asagri is locked out, another immigrant researcher feels locked in. "I'm living in a big prison called the United States of America," said Ehssan Nazockdast, a physicist who specializes in fluid dynamics at New York University.

The Iranian citizen had planned to attend his sister's wedding in Tehran in March, but is now afraid to leave his American wife and children for fear of not being able to come back.

The academic community was quick to react to the executive order over the weekend. In a letter to the Harvard Medical School community, George Daley, the dean of the school, said the impact of the executive order on faculty, students, and staff has the potential to resonate far into the future, "and to alter how we work with colleagues around the globe, and how we care for international patients."

Ivy League schools like Harvard are known for attracting scholars, physicians, and scientists from around the globe. "Collaboration among scholars from throughout the world contributes greatly to positive change in medicine, science, society, and humanity," Daley wrote.

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Amanda Pedersen is Qmed's news editor. Reach her at [email protected].

[Image credit: Naomi Alessandra]