Najah Bazzy, RN: Founder, Zaman International

Najah Bazzy, RN, PhD (honoris causa), is an internationally recognized humanitarian, healer, interfaith leader, and the founder and CEO of Zaman International, a nonprofit organization rooted in Metro Detroit that empowers marginalized women and children to break the cycle of extreme poverty. Under her guidance, Zaman International has grown from a grassroots volunteer effort into a world-class organization, operating from a 40,000-square-foot facility and impacting over three million people across 20 countries through holistic case management, vocational training, and humanitarian relief programs.

Raised in Southeast Michigan, Najah earned her nursing degree from Madonna University. With a career spanning more than three decades in critical care and transcultural nursing, she has served as an adjunct professor at Michigan State University’s Institute of International Health and continues to teach graduate courses at Bayan Claremont Theological School. Najah is widely known for pioneering a national model of transcultural clinical care, hosting workshops and providing diversity and clinical training for healthcare providers and organizations including the United States Army, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent.

Since co-founding the Young Muslim Association (now Muslim Youth Connection) in 1997, Najah has provided leadership development and Islamic education to youth. She is an active voice in building interfaith bridges, educating audiences nationwide about Islamic practices and advancing understanding after critical moments in national life, such as post-9/11. Najah’s work has been honored by numerous outlets—she was named a CNN Top Ten Hero in 2019, a Detroit News Michiganian of the Year, a 2023 USA Today Woman of the Year, and inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. A source of inspiration in her community, Najah Bazzy continues to lead, teach, and foster collaborative, inclusive solutions to humanitarian challenges, embodying the spirit of hope and service within the global interfaith movement.