To me, impact is making an actual difference that eases lives of people in a community. When my mother suffered from cervical cancer, I truly wished someone could have made an impact for her that could have probably saved her. Now, as an aspiring biomedical scientist, I want to use the knowledge, skills, and strength that I will gain during my journey to help the countless people in Africa who are hoping for a better tomorrow. I seek to indulge in cancer research and biomedical applications so that communities can have a better quality of life and live to see what’s beyond. I also want to make mental health care in Africa more accessible and spread the message that mental health issues are no disgrace. Every individual deserves to be respected and cared for. I believe that future only exists where there is impact.
Lakshanah
Home country: Mauritius
University: Tufts University, Class of 2028
Majors: Biomedical Sciences; Cognitive and Brain Sciences
Minor: Music, Sound, and Culture
Ashinaga Proposal Topic: Improving the public medical sector in Mauritius
I want to work in the field of computational biology for cancer research to help find novel treatments and well as increasing the diagnostic accuracy of cancer at earlier stages. I want to combine traditional methods as well as leverage the power of technology such as machine learning neural networks. I also want to dive deeper into biomedical devices that can be more accurate, cost-effective and more accessible in Africa. Apart from that, I also want to be a mental health activist to help destigmatize mental health issues and provide a broader access to mental health treatment.
Connect with Lakshanah on LinkedIn
Professional Interests:
◦ Aspiring biotechnologist and mental health activist to promote health and wellbeing for people and communities.
Experiences:
◦ Student Researcher at Pioneer Academics, 2024: Performed research in gastric cancer using gastric cancer methylation datasets and supervised machine learning classifiers.
◦ Academic Minister for the 2023 Ashinaga Study Camp.
◦ Customer Service New Associate at Accenture (Mauritius): Acted as the first line of retention for customers and provided assistance with billing, technical issues, complaint resolution, and other queries.
Skills:
◦ Data analysis
◦ Leadership
◦ Critical thinking
◦ Attention to details
◦ Organization
◦ Communication