Fatima-Numa Shabih Nominated as a Delegate to the Congress of Future Medical Leaders
Fatima-Numa Shabih (’25), a sophomore in the Project-Based Learning (PBL) pathway through Samo, has been nominated as a Delegate to the Congress of Future Medical Leaders. Shabih will join other high school students and future medical leaders from around the nation in June at the University of Massachusetts’ Lowell Campus. Dr. Mario Capecchi, a Nobel Prize in Medicine Recipient and the Science Director of the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists, signed Shabih’s nomination, selecting her to represent California. Following her nomination, Shabih has been excited for this opportunity.
“I felt really happy and excited when I was nominated because I really wanted to go to the congress,” Shabih said. “I had a good portfolio that had volunteering, passion projects and good grades that I believe helped me get accepted.”
Shabih is interested in pursuing a career as a surgeon. Aside from hours of volunteering and a 4.0 GPA, Shabih was part of a passion project where she coded and designed bracelets for kids with Type 1 Diabetes to show blood sugar levels, alerting adults around them whether to give the kids juice or insulin. She will join many others with backgrounds and achievements like hers at the three-day congress later this year. The group of teen medical prodigies will hear about current leading medical research from recipients of the National Medal of Science, Nobel Laureates and those already on the pathway she hopes to join.
“I am looking forward to meeting with some of the brightest minds in medicine [and] attending lectures from the world’s leading medical pioneers and researchers…” Shabih said. “Also, interacting with other kids like me who want to be in the field of medicine will be amazing.”
Shabih will gain advice from deans of Ivy Leagues and top medical schools on what medical school is like, listen to stories told by living medical miracles themselves and learn about the future of and advances in medicine and medical technology. She hopes that the knowledge she gains at the congress will help her in years to come.
“This opportunity is undoubtedly going to be an experience that will shape my future goals and lead me towards medical school and in the medical profession,” Shabih said. “The possibility of even meeting Nobel Prize Winners in this field is simply incredible and I can't wait to speak and learn from them.”