Meet 2026 Award Recipient
Sara Zaat
Before coming to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Sara majored in Molecular Environmental Biology and minored in French at the University of California, Berkeley. She also earned a JD from Georgetown University Law Center.
While in the MD program at Icahn Mount Sinai, Sara served as a Co-Lead Clinic Manager with the Mount Sinai Human Rights Program, which provides forensic medical evaluations for asylum seekers. She also served as Community Engagement Chair and later as Co-Teaching Senior of the Diabetes Clinic with East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership (EHHOP), the student-run, physician-supervised free clinic.
She served on the Sustainability Committee of Student Council and co-led Icahn Mount Sinai’s chapter of Medical Students for a Sustainable Future. She served on the planning committee for two environmental health-related conferences at Icahn Mount Sinai, at which she presented a policy brief and participated in a panel discussion. She cofacilitated a climate change selective course and a climate change Nexus course. She published a study on thyroid cancer and environmental contaminants in a peer-reviewed journal and received a Distinction in Research at Icahn Mount Sinai.
Sara would like to thank her wonderful family and friends for supporting her goals and keeping her grounded throughout medical school. She also thanks her many incredible mentors for their invaluable guidance and support. Finally, she is deeply grateful to the Office of Student Affairs and the entire Department of Medical Education for all of the programming and resources that enriched her medical school experience and prepared her to become a physician.
Sara will graduate with her MD degree and begin her residency in Internal Medicine at The Mount Sinai Hospital.