Five Indian Americans on Carnegie Corporation’s list of Great Immigrants

Abhijit Banerjee, Eboo Patel, Premal Shah, Ashish Kumar Jha and Rajesh (Raj) Ramesh Panjabi honored for enriching US society

Five Indian Americans figure in Carnegie Corporation of New York’s annual list of Great Immigrants, honoring 24 naturalized citizens whose contributions have enriched US society and strengthened its democracy.

Abhijit Banerjee, Eboo Patel, Premal Shah, Ashish Kumar Jha and Rajesh (Raj) Ramesh Panjabi are among those honored by the philanthropic foundation this year.

Every Fourth of July since 2006, the foundation has sponsored Great Immigrants, Great Americans, a public awareness campaign that celebrates immigrants’ vital role in American life.

The 2024 Class of Great Immigrants is comprised of naturalized citizens from 16 countries, according to a media release. The honorees represent a wide range of backgrounds and are recognized for their work in public service, education, health, journalism, the arts, and business, among other fields.

The 2024 honorees, the 19th class in the program, will be recognized with a full-page public service announcement in the New York Times on the Fourth of July and through tributes on social media.

READ: Ajay Banga in 2023 Carnegie list of Great Immigrants (June 29, 2023)

“The 24 Americans honored today serve as a reminder of the economic and societal benefits that each new generation of immigrants brings to our country and the richness of talent, skills, and achievements they contribute to our democracy,” said Dame Louise Richardson, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York and a naturalized American citizen, born in Ireland. “In honor of our founder, Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant, we celebrate these extraordinary individuals who have made notable contributions to American society.”

The Great Immigrants initiative aims to increase public awareness of the economic and societal benefits of immigration as part of the Corporation’s focus on strengthening democracy and reducing political polarization, according to the release.

Immigrants comprise 13.8% of the US population, more than half of whom are naturalized citizens. They account for 22.6% of the nation’s entrepreneurs, 23.1% of its STEM workers, and 15.6% of its nurses, the release noted citing the American Immigration Council.

The Corporation’s Strengthening US Democracy program supports immigrant rights, integration, and naturalization for eligible residents. Since 2006, the Corporation has named more than 740 Great Immigrants, forming one of the largest online resources of its type.

The Indian American honorees are:

Abhijit Banerjee: The Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at MIT, Banerjee won the Nobel Prize in economics for his work in developing an experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.

Eboo Patel: Founder and president of Interfaith America, Patel works with governments, universities, private companies, and civic organizations to promote cooperation across religious differences.

Premal Shah: A social entrepreneur, Shah has spent his career building microfinance companies to alleviate social problems, from global poverty to the transition to solar.

Ashish Kumar Jha: Dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University is a practicing physician and global leader in public health research, Jha is known as a source of trusted information and guidance to policymakers around the world.

Rajesh (Raj) Ramesh Panjabi: a global healthcare leader, entrepreneur, and former White House official, Panjabi was nine years old when he escaped a civil war in his home country of Liberia and immigrated with his family to the United States.

He returned to Liberia as a young medical student, cofounding Last Mile Health to save lives in some of the world’s most remote communities by partnering with governments to create national networks of community health professionals. The organization played a key role in battling the West Africa Ebola epidemic, helping to train over 1,000 health workers.