Najifah Tasnim (2020 - 2022)

My name is Najifah Tasnim and I am a first-year undergraduate student at McMaster University’s Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHSc) program. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to volunteer with CanSaRCC when I was only in Grade 11 which took my learning and career to the next level as it opened my eyes to the field of clinical oncology and research. As a high school student, I raised money for sarcoma research to spread awareness! Over the summer, I got the opportunity to attend board meetings with multidisciplinary health professionals, interact with patients and watch multiple different health professionals work together to bring the best care for patients. I also had the opportunity to shadow researchers at the Lunenfeldt-Tanenbaum Research Institute where I was able to see cutting-edge sarcoma research take place and how tumor samples from patients were used to help develop drugs and other innovations. Recently, I have been learning clinical data entry where I am helping with projects on clinical research on sarcoma. To me, CanSaRCC is an opportunity like no other because it allowed me to see the world beyond my school books and explore oncology, research, and clinical practice at a really young age that most people would not be able to do. It has opened my eyes to medicine and research and guided me to an area that I wish to pursue in the future!