– Rukia Henry destined to make a difference in science and medical research
By Ravena Gildharie
FROM a tender age, while growing up in the mining town of Linden, Region 10, Rukia Henry felt a deep passion for science and research, driven to stake a claim in the world of academia and to make a difference in peoples’ lives.
Now at age 21 and a Howard University Honour Student, Rukia was recently bestowed an ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ at the 2017 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), which took place in Phoenix, Arizona. She has dreams of becoming a neurovirologist, specialised in the study of viruses in the brain.

During the 18th Annual Minority Access National Conference in Washington D.C. last month, Rukia delivered an oral presentation on a research she did on the herpes virus and for which she was subsequently awarded First place in the Biological Sciences Category.
“As a young Guyanese, my recent academic achievements have proven that we are not limited by borders or our nationality,” she told the Pepperpot Magazine in an exclusive interview, adding that “it serves as a personal testament and also to others that we are deserving just like anyone else in this world of success once we have put in the work to achieve it.”

She noted that “sometimes it’s easy to get boxed in your own reality and not focus on the fact that there are endless opportunities available in this world.” However, she is reminded that those opportunities were “not going to come looking for you, you have to go looking for them…You are not limited by your geographic location; the world can be yours once you put in the effort to work for what you want.”
A former student of Macknzie High in Linden, Rukia, after graduating from secondary school, took her SAT examination and was highly successful that she secured a scholarship to Harvard University.

During her sophomore year at Harvard, she knew she wanted to do research, but most of the opportunities were opened only to American citizens. She sought help from the Dean of her college to find research opportunities, and she eventually got contact with the supervisor of an HIV research laboratory in the Howard University Medical School.
“I have been working in that lab for almost three years now, and I ended up being paid for my work. I then applied for summer opportunities to shadow doctors in Spain and was accepted,” Rukia related.

As part of her involvement with Atlantis Project Fellowship in 2016, she witnessed the practice of medicine first-hand in a global setting which grants participants a competitive edge in graduate school applications, domestic health-related internships, and a broadened perspective on the medical vocation in general. During the summer of 2016, she travelled to Zaragoza, Spain and spent three weeks at the Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet where she shadowed in the Radiation Oncology Department.

RESEARCH AND OPPORTUNITIES
“This following summer I applied to five summer research programmes at different U.S. schools and when I was accepted to Princeton, I accepted their offer the next day. I’m happy I accepted their offer, as many of the research conferences I have attended that I presented their work I was paid for by them and also they are continuously funding me while I’m completing my final year at Howard University,” she explained.
She spent nine weeks at Princeton University’s Summer Undergraduate Research Programme conducting noteworthy research in the Department of Molecular Biology, Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics. She developed a model to study herpes virus infections in the brain.

“My recent achievements have proven to me that any Guyanese, boy or girl, is capable of excelling anywhere once given the chance,” Rukia stated.
Currently, she is applying to graduate school to obtain her PhD in Molecular Biology with a concentration in Virology and Neuroscience.
“I am particularly interested in studying viruses in the brain and thus in the next five years, I hope that I would’ve garnered enough knowledge to understand the pathogeneses of viruses in neurons, and if potentially we can use the immune responses to viral infections to treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis or certain brain cancers,” she said.

Initially, Rukia planned to pursue medical school in the U.S. after graduating Howard University. However, her participation in the Princeton research programme proved that she could “make more of a difference doing research than being a medical doctor.”
Rukia, an only child, is founder of a non-profit venture, Community Health Access Missionary Programme, that has organised medical outreaches in Kairuni, Linden, where free medical care and medication were provided to residents. She is now moving to have the organisation registered with hopes of expanding the outreaches to other communities across Guyana.

She is also aiming to start a personal blog dedicated to promoting her upcoming academic pursuits and which she says would “give other Guyanese the opportunity to see representation of their kind.” Rukia intends also to offer advice to anyone who may be interested in applying to schools and certain programmes that Rukia may have knowledge about.

“My motivation honestly comes from my personal belief in the merit ‘to whom much is given, much is required.’ I believe that God has blessed me with these countless opportunities to be able to do good for others so I feel a personal obligation to continue excelling to accomplish my goals of helping others,” she declared.