Sarp Sahin

Fulbright/Cardiff University Award

Sarp Sahin is a recent graduate of Washington and Lee University, where he studied Chemistry and Data Science as a Johnson Scholar. He graduated as valedictorian of the Class of 2026 and was named the first sophomore recipient of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship from his university since 2009. Through Fulbright, Sarp will begin a research-based MPhil in Medicine at Cardiff University this fall under the mentorship of Professor Caleb Webber, building on his prior research in Parkinson's disease. His current work uses bulk RNA sequencing to measure average gene activity across many cell types, and at Cardiff he will extend this using deep single cell RNA sequencing to study gene activity at the level of individual neurons. This work follows his earlier research at the NeuroGenomics and Informatics Center at Washington University School of Medicine, where he conducted the largest meta-analysis of whole blood transcriptomes in Parkinson's disease, as well as his time as a research intern at the Movement Science Lab at Scottish Rite for Children. Outside the lab, Sarp is committed to healthcare access. He revived and led Washington and Lee's chapter of Remote Area Medical (RAM), providing care to underserved patients at mobile pop-up clinics in rural Appalachia. Sarp is also an avid outdoorsman. As an Appalachian Adventure trip leader in his university's Outing Club, he guided incoming students on backpacking orientation trips and, as a recipient of Washington and Lee's inaugural Expedition Grant, completed the first documented alpine traversal of the Ala-Too range in Kyrgyzstan. Following his year in Cardiff, Sarp hopes to attend medical school and build a career at the intersection of translational research and patient care.