Congratulations to Marium Raza, who has been awarded the Thomas Sedlock Icon Scholarship!
“Marium is a rising senior in the interdisciplinary honors program at the University of Washington, studying biochemistry and comparative history of ideas. Her personal experiences with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis motivated her to study the physiological mechanisms behind the pain she so often felt growing up. So, as a freshman she started working in the Gordon lab in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, studying the polymodal pain receptor TRPV1. Learning basic biochemistry and electrophysiology techniques, Marium has grown to now work on her own independent experiments with single molecule spectroscopy and TIRF microscopy.
Curious about the clinical pain research, Marium applied and was selected for the Scan Design Innovations in Pain internship. Under the guidance of Dr. Dale Langford, Marium developed an independent project to study the relationship between preoperative and postoperative pain in women undergoing breast cancer surgery. Marium concurrently saw research insight in action while shadowing a physician at the UW Center for Pain Relief. As her manuscript is now prepared for publication, Marium reflects on the internship as a key point in her scientific education.
Marium is also passionate about learning more about the pain and suffering of people in her community. She started by volunteering through University District Street Medicine. Witnessing the inequality between her healthcare and that of the uninsured, Marium became committed to making an active change. So with an interdisciplinary team, Marium founded Elixir, a startup nonprofit committed to connecting uninsured and undocumented individuals with community healthcare resources. Her team has raised over $10,000 to support their monthly workshops and mobile app development.
After graduation, Marium seeks to continue investigating pain and using the results to make a difference in the health of her community by pursuing a medical degree. As a physician, Marium hopes to combine scientific discovery and innovative technology with clinical insight to continue driving medicine forward.”
We are so proud of you, Marium!
To learn more about the Thomas Sedlock Icon Scholarship and read about the other winners, visit https://new.expo.uw.edu/expo/scholarships/sedlock.