Mentor: Vardan Arutiunian (Webb Lab)

Aya Sahib is a rising senior at the University of Washington (UW), majoring in biochemistry and minoring in bioethics. She is interested in clinical research and aspires to become a physician in the future. At UW, she is an officer of the Women in Science Society and is passionate about uplifting minorities in STEM. In the past, she was a Fred Hutch SHIP intern and analyzed the effectiveness of gene editing the CD33 gene in the setting of acute myeloid leukemia treatment. Aya was also a NIH STEP-UP intern at UW’s ISCRM where she worked on a project regarding Tie2, a receptor tyrosine kinase involved in endothelial development and function and its relationship to mitigating diabetic vascular degeneration. Aya is currently a phlebotomist at an outpatient clinic and a medical scribe in the emergency department. Aya looks forward to being a SURFiN fellow at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, analyzing patient data in the form of EEG and exploring the intersectionality of clinical research.