Sarah Nguyen

Sarah Nguyen spent the summer after graduating from BYU in Physiology and Developmental Biology working as a research assistant at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard on a clinical drug trial in the Department of Anesthesia.

This experience helped confirm my passion for medicine and was my first introduction to the world of academic medicine and clinical research. I was exposed to medicine at a scale I never knew and learned valuable research skills including computer programing, clinical trial development, academic writing, and monitoring methods used in clinical trials. During that summer I also shadowed anesthesiologists and watched my very first neurological surgeries. While I always knew I wanted to be a physician, I had no idea about the interesting and exciting the world of academic medicine. My internship provided me the experience and motivation to pursue a career in clinical research and academic medicine.

Following this research internship I began medical school at the University of Utah, School of Medicine. During the summer following my first year of medical school I continued my research with another mentor I met during my time in Boston. I discovered Neurosurgery during my third-year of medical school and fell in love with this specialty. I graduated medical school in 2021 with my MD and matched into Neurosurgery residency. I am excited to pursue a career in academic neurosurgery and hope to continue clinical research and focus my future career on teaching and mentorship of residents, medical students, and premedical students, in addition to caring for my patients.