Before Waseem Anani, MD, became an immunohematologist, he was an undergraduate studying geology and anthropology, with his heart set on graduate school. He had an eye for the heuristic and an interest in exploring how small subtleties might hold the key to solving big problems. To some, his decision to attend medical school was a sudden redirect, but to Anani, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to investigate some of the biggest and most important mysteries of our time.

ARUP Blood Services works day in and day out to collect blood products essential to patient care in Utah. Each day presents new and different challenges, yet there are always patients in urgent need of blood transfusions.

Joshua M. Zimmerman, MD, can visualize several scenarios in which he could use granular data about a patient’s transfusion risk to better prepare his patients for surgery. With the right information, the medical director of the preoperative clinic at University of Utah Health could intervene weeks or days before a surgery to minimize a patient’s risk for transfusion.

As a kid growing up in Pinedale, Wyoming, Sierra Cunningham loved science.

In middle school, her investigation into the efficacy of antibacterial soap versus hand sanitizer earned her a trip to the Wyoming State Science Fair. In high school, whenever field science classes presented an opportunity for her to traipse out into the nearby Wind River Range to put what she was learning into practice, she was there.