Mifrah Hayath is a UC Berkeley alumna where she earned simultaneous degrees in Molecular Toxicology and Bioethics. When practicing CRISPRCas9 in the lab, Mifrah started to question the ethical considerations of the technology. She was drawn to the ISF major which allowed for the unique opportunity to create a field of study from three different disciplines. The ISF major gave her the opportunity and resources to investigate the field of bioethics and analyze ethical concerns. In ISF, Mifrah’s senior thesis was “The Cut That Split Open Media, Scientific and Public Debate, Reactions to He Jiankui’s CRISPRCas9, CCRS-Gene-Edited Babies”, which focused on the ethics beind CRISPRCas9 and gene editing. After completing her time at Cal, she traveled to Boston where she studied pancreatic cancer as a technical associate in the Shalek Lab at MIT. Simultaneously, she pursued a masters in biotechnology at Johns Hopkins University. Even as a researcher in the biological sciences, Mifrah’s love for bioethics did not waver. She become an independent researcher in the Voices of Bioethics at Columbia University where she studied the ethics behind stem cell research and technologies. Having an insatiable love and curiosity for knowledge, Mifrah decided to pursue a second masters in bioethics at Harvard Medical School. She hopes to intertwine her two passions and pursue a career in academic as well as create tangible change in the world.
