Dr. Faraz Harsini is the founder and CEO of Allied Scholars for Animal Protection (ASAP), a nonprofit organization working with students to promote animal rights and plant-based diets on college campuses. ASAP has chapters at 19 college campuses, including at Brown University. They generate awareness for their cause through on-campus movie nights, medical guest lectures, pop-up booths with student representatives, and posters and fliers, most notably the satirical “Free Dog Meat” or “HuMilk” campaigns. Through various informational methods, Harsini hopes to increase awareness of the ability of the food system to have global environmental, health-driven, and moral change.
Eiffel Sunga: Could you tell me a bit about your background, where you went to school and what you do now?
Faraz Harsini: I’m originally from Tehran, Iran. I did my undergrad in University of Tehran and my bachelor’s was in chemical engineering. I became involved in social justice movements in my home country and participated in a lot of protests. I almost got killed in one of the protests when we were fighting for human rights. I had a guy with a machete running after me. That was sort of my introduction to standing up for injustice. Because of my undergrad degree, I was also really concerned about global and environmental issues. Later on, I started volunteering in hospitals, playing music for children suffering from cancer. When I saw their suffering again, I asked myself, what’s the best thing I can do with my life? And so I decided to pursue biomedical sciences. I came to Texas for my master’s and doctorate, and spent time looking at cancer and a couple of other diseases.
After my doctorate, I had a postdoc offer from MIT, but I decided to join biopharma because I wanted to really bring biomedical research to people as soon as possible. Throughout my time in graduate school, I also became vegan. I opened my eyes to a lot of suffering that I never really thought about—animal suffering and exploitation. As I focused on human rights issues, environmental issues, and biomedical science issues, I was also thinking about animal rights. At the same time, I also learned that many other problems in the world that I cared about, such as climate, antibiotic resistance, Covid-19 and influenza themselves, cancer, and (the top cause of death) heart disease, are connected with the food system. That’s why I quit my high-paying job in biopharma and joined nonprofits. I never realized that in many of these issues that we all care about, the biggest missing part is the food system.
ES: From reading the website and from what you’ve told me, your work has shifted from a focus in medicine to more of a focus on veganism. What caused your interests to shift?
FH: I wouldn’t say it shifted. Just a couple of weeks ago, we had Dr. Kim Williams, the former president of American College of Cardiology, give a lecture at Brown. We had Dr. Klaper, who was a former NASA nutrition advisor, again to give a talk. I am still absolutely interested in saving humans as well, and I think a big part of it is our diet. 40 percent of cancers could be prevented if we actually focus on our diet.
The question for me became, “if I really want to help people, wouldn’t it make sense to focus on something that no one else is talking about, and where education is missing?” That’s why I’m so passionate about this. It’s a solution not only to help humans but also to help animals. I know my time is limited on this earth, and I want to do the most good that I can. So I try to ask, “what is the largest source of suffering, pain, and misery on this earth?”
ES: So, it’s clear that there’s a link between our food systems and how they negatively affect human health, but I also want to get into people’s reactions to your message at ASAP. The flyers that I’ve seen seem satirical, even silly. They’re about dog meat or human breast milk—and that definitely catches people’s attention. Is that the intention behind it? How do you use that to start a conversation?
FH: We know that in order to bring attention to this cause, we need to use different tactics. And no tactic works on everybody. For instance, we have medical lectures—you’ve probably seen those flyers. But it’s not silly; it’s not satire. It’s very scientifically oriented and advertised as such. So that’s one way to do it.
The other thing is there is such a big cognitive dissonance in the way that we look at some animals as commodities. In order to cut through it, you have to do something shocking. I was guilty of that too. I grew up eating meat. I didn’t become vegan because I stopped liking the taste of meat. I opened my eyes to the amount of pain and suffering that we are causing to these animals.
At Brown’s campus, I’ve seen students sit down and pet a dog on a walk. But then we go to this dining hall and we shove animal products in our mouths, and we never question: What happened to these animals? What were their last moments like? How did it feel to be in a slaughterhouse? If that was happening to cats and dogs, there would be riots everywhere.
I can say, “Hey guys, let’s not consume dairy. It’s bad for animals.” No one is going to stop to talk to me about it. But when you say, “Come get your human milk,” then people ask what is happening. So of course there’s going to be pushback, but that’s okay. Somebody has to cut through this cognitive dissonance. Some people stop and have conversations with us, and every time we do that, some people change.
ES: In your opinion, why is this kind of cultural approach to helping solve health issues more worth your time than being in a lab and doing research?
FH: That’s very easy for me to answer. When I quit my job in biopharma, they just hired another person. But how often do you hear somebody talking about veganism or even educated medical professionals talking about diet? Through years of doing biomedical research, no one ever taught me about diet. I did cancer research in one of the best cancer centers in the world in Texas, and no one ever mentioned the association between red meat consumption and cancer. So I thought if I was in a lab, at best, if I came up with a cure that cured maybe 0.1 percent of cancers, I would get a Nobel Prize. That’s how impactful it is. But here, we have 40 percent of cancers that are preventable. Here, cardiovascular diseases can be prevented with diet and lifestyle—and no one is talking about it. I just want to bring that awareness to the students, because otherwise they have zero exposure to any of this. The long term goal is to incorporate some of this into the curriculum of medical education. With everything that I have in my power, I want to make that happen.
ES: How do you bridge the gap between the people who just see the sign and laugh it off and the people who see the sign and actually do more research on it? How do you convince people to look more into it?
FH: First of all, the people who laugh are probably exposed to other things that they don’t even know are from us. They could come and accidentally sit in one of our lectures about the benefits of a plant-based diet. They might accidentally come to one of our movie screenings at Brown. We gave people free food at a movie screening, and everyone enjoyed the food, and no one thought it was silly. So even if they laugh at one poster, that’s okay. They can be exposed to other things that they may take seriously. We are talking about something that is not the norm in society. Some people will complain, some people will resist, some people will listen, some people will change. Just because people laugh, it doesn’t mean that they’re not going to change. There is a quote that reads, “At first they laugh at you, then they fight back, then they change.” I just want students to start questioning, and I think college is the best place to start questioning societal norms.
ES: It sounds like all of this is a process. It takes time to reach people and get people to understand your message. What motivates you to continue with ASAP’s message, even though it’s been received in different ways?
FH: It’s the fact that every single student is exposed and is encouraged to think about these questions. Whether they laugh, whether they pause and think about it, or whether they change, they have to think about it, compared to a world where they go about their lives and never think about it. The fact that at Brown University, every single undergraduate student has an opportunity to attend medical lectures to learn about the benefits of plant-based diets, watch documentaries about benefits of health, etc… That education is what gives me hope. Everybody says they love animals. Everyone says they care about the environment. Everyone says they care about themselves and their loved ones. The missing part of this puzzle is the food system and animal rights. There is this misalignment between our actions and values. So I want to bring that to the spotlight, and you can’t expect people to know if they’ve never been exposed to this message.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity
