Meet 2026 Award Recipient
Miriam Saffern
Miriam came to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai from the Columbia Combined Plan in Engineering, where she received a BA in biochemistry from Stern College for Women and a BS in biomedical engineering from Columbia University. She entered the Biomedical Sciences PhD program in 2019.
At Mount Sinai, Miriam joined the laboratory of Dr. Robert Samstein, where she used both computational and experimental approaches to study cancer and autoimmune disease risk. Miriam published the first part of her doctoral work in Science and presented her research at multiple conferences as a young investigator awardee.
Her passion for communicating science to people of all levels and backgrounds sparked her idea to design and co-lead a weeklong immunology education program for high school students in partnership with the Lipschultz Precision Immunology Institute (PrIISM) and Center for Excellence in Youth Education (CEYE) at Mount Sinai for four summers. She also participatedin the Scientist in Residence Program at the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) where she brought her scientific expertise to teach and plan a science project with a New York City Public School teacher and his fourth-grade class. She was also the winner of the Lasker Foundation Essay Contest in 2021 for her essay about her scientific communication experiences at the beginning of the pandemic.
In 2024, she earned an Advocacy Certificate for Human Genetics and Genomics Trainees(ACGT) through the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG), after spending a year training in multiple methods of impacting scientific policy, meeting with representatives on Capitol Hill, and designing an educational website on topics in genetics and genomics for non-scientists.
Miriam would like to extend her sincerest gratitude to her family and friends, her PI Dr. Robert Samstein and her labmates, and all her mentors and professors before and during her time at Mount Sinai for cultivating her passions and supporting her growth and development as both a scientist and a person. She is looking forward to continue impacting the landscape of cancer and precision medicine as she transitions to a career in the biotechnology industry.