Chinmay Bakshi, a 2021 graduate from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Arts & Sciences, has been awarded the Samvid Scholarship.
It is the second year for the new, nationally competitive award. The scholarship provides up to $50,000 per year for two years of graduate education and offers mentorship programming to help high-achieving students realize their potential as future leaders in innovation for positive social change.
Throughout his extraordinary undergraduate career at UC, Bakshi pursued twin passions for biomedical research and for community involvement, which he focused on public health and wellness initiatives.
His achievements in both exemplify UC’s Next Lives Here vision of innovation, inclusion and real-world impact.
In recognition for this work, he was one of the six undergraduates in 2021 awarded the UC Presidential Leadership Medal of Excellence.
His achievements also earned him the nationally competitive Barry Goldwater Scholarship in 2019.
He was a finalist for the prestigious Rhodes and Truman scholarships and has earned many other accolades.
Having earned interdisciplinary degrees in neurobiology and liberal arts (medicine, health and society track) at UC, Bakshi is attending Harvard Medical School this fall.
While he is still choosing his medical specialty, he plans to pursue a career in research and healthcare policy that will help him serve vulnerable populations.
He is particularly interested in effective pain management for patients with complex diseases, in pharmaceutical innovation and in systemic public health solutions to the opioid epidemic.
Bakshi began to connect to UC researchers while still in high school.
His interest in breast cancer research (both of his grandmothers were diagnosed with the disease) led him to the cancer and cell biology lab of Dr.
Nira Ben-Jonathan in UC’s College of Medicine.
“I was able to really discover a passion for research and see how I can contribute to innovation. I could see how the University of Cincinnati collaborates with other institutions and really is at the forefront of research. That was a very transformative experience, because I could envision myself as an undergraduate student pursuing meaningful research with professors at the top of their fields.”
Even before the first day of freshman classes, he also introduced himself to Dr. Jeffery Molkentin, a professor in the pediatrics department in the College of Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator who leads molecular cardiovascular biology research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
“I walked into his office, and I said, ‘I’d really like to conduct research with you.’ I sat down and spoke with him, and he was impressed with the previous research I had done. Ultimately, I stayed with his lab throughout undergrad.”
“UC offers every single resource that you need to be successful,” Bakshi said. “A lot of people come to college and they’re not sure where to turn to. The University of Cincinnati’s advising is top-tier, and I would say, get involved and really pursue whatever you’re interested in, and you will find any opportunity you want at UC. That’s exactly what happened to me.”
Credit
Dailytrust
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