Miriam Bukhsh makes it her responsibility to take care of the people in her community, and she does this through research.
 
She spends much of her time on campus researching triple negative breast cancer, which has a high mortality rate and no targeted therapy. 
 
“Miriam Bukhsh isn’t comfortable with those odds, so she spends hours in the lab trying to find a cure for triple negative breast cancer,” said Alex Piazza, of the Office of External Relations. “She clearly understood that her research could impact thousands, so she took it very seriously.”
 
For her work, Miriam was awarded the Outstanding Biology Senior award and the Distinguished Health Policy Studies Student Award from the Natural Sciences Department.
 
“Her success in the laboratory, in particular, can be attributed to her desire to learn, her natural leadership skills, as well as her critical thinking skills,” said Cecilia Speyer, lecturer in the Department of Natural Sciences.
 
Miriam also mentors classmates through her work with the National Society of Leadership and Success, while also serving as vice president of finance for the Phi Delta Epsilon Medical Fraternity. She also introduces prospective students to campus by leading tours, as part of her volunteer work with the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters’ admissions office.

Off campus, she is deeply involved in her community, participating in numerous service projects, including volunteering at the Cass Clinic in Detroit, Gleaner’s Food Bank and she serves as a camp counselor at the Maplegrove Rehabilitation Center.
 
“Addiction is a health issue present in my community, but it is often associated with shame and weakness,” she said. “My role is to help remove the stigma so that we can focus on improving the health of those affected.”
 
Her commitment to healing her community will continue after graduation.
 
“My ultimate goal is to become a physician who is involved in health policy development or clinical research,” Miriam said. “I want to administer health care and work in a hospital, but I also hope to work with underserved populations to learn more about health issues that can be helped through health policy. My dream job would be one where I am continuously gaining new knowledge and putting that learned information to use.”