Nassim Assefi

Nassim Assefi is an Iranian-American physician and civic activist who has dedicated her life to  advocating for vulnerable women worldwide. As a global health practitioner, her work has long  unfolded at the crossroads of women’s health, human rights, technology, and storytelling. Drawn  to the spaces where disciplines and people meet, she has lived and worked in ten countries,  including two formative years in Afghanistan, and now makes her home in an ecovillage in  Spain with her teenage daughter, following several impactful years in Morocco. 

She serves as Strategic Director of Tomorrow’s Women, an NGO devoted to uplifting the voices  of young Palestinian and Israeli women peacebuilders, and as menstrual health advisor to Project  Soar, a nonprofit supporting adolescent girls’ rights in Morocco and developing countries. Since  

2009, she has been deeply woven into the TED community, first as a TEDGlobal Fellow, and  later as a curator and speaker coach for TED and TEDMED, helping thinkers, artists, and  activists bring their ideas into the world with clarity, heart, and impact. 

Her debut novel, Aria, was published by Harcourt in 2007, translated into five languages, and  will soon be reissued by Zeytin Press on its twentieth anniversary in 2027. A grateful alumna of  the Hedgebrook and Whiteley Center writing residencies and recipient of the Jack Straw and  Artist Trust fellowships, she was educated at Wellesley College, the University of Washington  School of Medicine, and Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she completed her  residency in primary care and women’s health. A majority of profits from her upcoming novel with Zeytin Press, Say I Am You, will be donated to organizations helping Afghans, especially  those supporting refugees, women’s rights, education, health, sports, and the protection of  journalists.