Life Health Science Internship

Welcome! 

My name is Minahil Anees, and I am a junior at Indiana University Indianapolis, majoring in Biology with a minor in Health Psychology. I am deeply passionate about advancing healthcare accessibility and contributing to meaningful, lasting improvements within the field. 

My guiding principle is continuous growth, striving each day to be even 1% better than I was yesterday, whether by deepening my knowledge, refining my skills, or being more present and intentional in my actions. 

As a trilingual individual, I have had the privilege of using my language skills during my volunteer work at the Hospital to help patients communicate more effectively with healthcare providers. These experiences have strengthened my commitment to fostering understanding and compassion in patient care.

Internship site and future goals

• My internship at the Indiana University School of Medicine Division of Endocrinology has truly reinforced my desire to pursue medicine. Being immersed in a research environment gave me a real sense of what healthcare looks like behind the scenes—through lab work, collaboration with a team, and the responsibility that comes with each experiment. Working on a project focused on a drug for a specific disease showed me how discoveries in the lab can directly improve patient care, which deepened my appreciation for translational research. I also realized that I genuinely enjoy analytical thinking, problem-solving, and contributing to work that can make a long-term difference. This experience has given me more confidence in understanding myself and my motivations—not just interacting with patients, but also exploring the “why” behind disease and treatment.

• My original LHSI goals included gaining meaningful research experience, strengthening my understanding of disease mechanisms, and clarifying my long-term career path in medicine. Over the past year, I made significant progress in all of these areas. I developed technical laboratory skills, improved my ability to analyze and interpret data, and gained a stronger understanding of how experimental design influences results. More importantly, I learned how persistence, troubleshooting, and critical thinking are essential in research. My goals have shifted from simply participating in research to actively understanding how scientific inquiry shapes future therapies and improves patient outcomes.

• This summer, I plan to continue building my research skills, whether by remaining involved in a laboratory setting or expanding my understanding of scientific literature related to disease mechanisms and drug development. I also intend to pursue additional research opportunities that align with my interest in molecular and cellular mechanisms of disease, continue clinical exposure to maintain a patient-centered perspective, and seek mentorship from both physician-scientists and faculty researchers to better understand how research and medicine can intersect in my future career.