Sara Hegy has had an obsession with serving people since she was a child.
Fresh-faced, with eyes full of curiosity and a burning passion for learning, Hegy knew that she was in this life for a reason.
She always dreamed of leaving her own mark in life and becoming a role model for others. And, she is making her dream come true.
Hegy, an Egyptian cancer researcher, made headlines a few days ago when she won the Richtzenhain German Doctoral Prize which is granted by the German Centre for Cancer Research and Heidelberg University, one of the world’s largest in the field of cancer research.
She said she has been dreaming of making something valuable for humanity since she was a child.
“Obviously, I had only one choice: to become a medical doctor,” Hegy told The Egyptian Mail in an interview.
Her turning point came when a relative of hers died of cancer. This woman was so dear to Hegy that she decided to devote her life to finding a cure to the disease that killed her.
However, Hegy’s simple search for a way for humanity out of this deadly disease is morphing into a personal ambition for empowerment through science.
Having studied pharmacology and biology at the German University in Cairo, Hegy travelled to Germany where she pursued post-graduate studies in cancer at the University of Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Centre.
She discovered in her master’s and doctoral research that sex hormones are not limited to sex organs, but can rather affect non-sex organs, including the gut.
She also noticed that those hormones go to intestinal stem cells and divide them, allowing tumors to grow.
Nevertheless, Hegy’s journey has never been smooth or easy.
She suffered a lot of depression as she made her research. She succeeded, however, in overcoming this depression through self-motivation. She also resorted to leadership coaching.
“Thank God, I did not need any antidepressants,” Hegy said with a triumphant smile.
As a scientist, she found herself competing with others all the time. She is also racing against time every day.
This was probably why – like most other scientists – Hegy suffered depression as she prepared for her master’s and PhD.
Having triumphed over most stumbling blocks, Hegy dreams of helping others transform their beliefs.
“Outcomes are always based on the actions we take and our own mindsets,” Hegy said. “Underlying those two things are our beliefs.”
She said she works to help people pinpoint the beliefs that undermine their capabilities and put barriers on their way.
Hegy brought her thoughts recently to the World Youth Forum, the annual gathering of international youths which is directly sponsored by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.
The forum was held earlier this month in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, for the first time in two years, a hiatus that was caused by Covid-19.
Nevertheless, the pandemic could not prevent the world’s youths from converging onto Sharm el-Sheikh for the forum. Neither did it prevent Hegy from telling her story in front of thousands of international youths at the event.
The forum also gave Hegy the chance to speak with President Sisi.
“I expressed to him my modest view about the importance of the transformation conversation,” Hegy said. “This conversation can be an essential component in the future that President Sisi wants to create for Egypt.”
Hegy believes the transformation of humans can help them create a new future for themselves.
To her, the elements of performance include the creation of an open space for creativity.
“People need to move ahead, without asking how, whenever they have a dream,” Hegy said. “They should just move and focus on the process that makes their dreams come true.”
Hegy remembered the time when her paper about nature was approved in 2020.
She could not believe the developments that were unfolding in front of her own eyes.
“I wrote the paper down and put it in front of me as I sat to write my PhD thesis,” Hegy said. “I did this to keep my motivating force alive all the time.”
She also continues to remember her coach’s most important advice to her: Imagine you are in a race and you have to reach the finish line. You have two options: either to exhaust your energy by comparing yourself with others, or invest all your energy in yourself to reach the finish line, regardless of what is happening around you.
“I always remember this,” Hegy said, with eyes full of determination.
