Student Profiles

Sahba graduated summa cum laude from the University of Tennessee in 2016, with a BA in neuroscience. She pursued her first research experience through the NIH Summer Internship Program, during which she studied the innate immune response in multiple sclerosis. As an Amgen Scholar, Sahba spent the next summer working on a novel therapy for Alzheimer’s disease in the laboratory of Dr. Frank Longo at Stanford University. Intrigued by the possibility of uncovering targets for early intervention, she then continued this line of work at the Cajal Institute in Spain for a semester. At UT, she also spent three years in the Cooper Lab, completing and defending an honors thesis on brain and behavioral adaptations throughout the lifespan. Her undergraduate research received awards at numerous scientific conferences and was published in Physiology and Behavior and Behavioral Neuroscience. She also received the Chancellor’s Extraordinary Professional Promise Award and was named Class of 2016 Torchbearer in recognition of her academic achievements and contributions to the university and local community.

After graduating, Sahba studied Alzheimer's disease as an IRTA Fellow in Dr. Madhav Thambisetty’s group at the NIH National Institute on Aging. This year-long fellowship culminated in four publications, including two as first author. With a growing interest in population-based research on dementia, Sahba was then awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to pursue an MPhil in epidemiology at the University of Cambridge. Her MPhil dissertation demonstrated a causal, genetic link between Alzheimer’s disease and cancer and was published in Scientific Reports.

Sahba joined the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine MSTP in 2018 and has since completed the first two years of medical school. During this time, she also served on the Alzheimer’s Congressional Team to advocate for patient-centered legislation and increased research funding from the federal government. As an NIH-Oxford student, Sahba plans to leverage insights from large-scale, epidemiological studies to guide basic science investigations into the pre-symptomatic stages of neurodegenerative disorders. Ultimately, she hopes to pursue a career as a physician-scientist dedicated to reimagining care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.