A career in research wasn’t always part of Maïka Harvey’s long-term plan.
Her ultimate goal has always been to become a physician. But curious about what working in a lab was really like, she decided to throw her hat in the ring for the Undergraduate Research Scholarship (URS). The URS is a competitive, paid summer program that gives high-achieving students the opportunity to gain hands-on research experience both before beginning their undergraduate degree at uOttawa and after completing their first year.
During her URS, Maïka worked in biology professor Mark Ekker’s genetics lab, studying cells in the zebrafish brain to better understand neurodevelopmental diseases. Along the way, she learned a variety of lab techniques and gained experience carrying out research independently.
That experience opened the door to another opportunity during her second year: the Undergraduate Science Research Opportunity (USRO) Program. Maïka continued working in Professor Ekker’s lab, contributing to a master’s student’s thesis project investigating eye diseases in zebrafish.
“I’m really grateful to have been one of the 16 students who received the URS in 2024. It really set the tone for the rest of my research career and gave me a better chance at getting the USRO,” says Maïka. “Having the URS and USRO then gave me enough research experience to confidently apply to the Amgen program.”
As it turns out, good things do come in threes. The summer after her second year, Maïka was one of 11 students in the country to be accepted into the prestigious Amgen Scholars Program, a 10-week research internship at the University of Toronto.
“I’m really grateful to have been one of the 16 students who received the URS in 2024. It really set the tone for the rest of my research career and gave me a better chance at getting the USRO”
Maïka Harvey
Reducing one risk, uncovering another
Through the Amgen program, Maïka joined professors Joanne Kotsopoulos and Steven Narod at Women’s College Hospital, where their lab leads the largest international study of BRCA carriers in the world.
“BRCA1 and BRCA2 are genes that help protect against cancer. Certain pathogenic variants in these genes can raise a person’s lifetime risk of breast cancer to about 60% and substantially increase the risk of ovarian cancer,” Maïka says.
Since 1996, the study has followed BRCA carriers, collecting information about their health through recurring questionnaires.
With limited options available to treat ovarian cancer, BRCA carriers may be advised to undergo a preventive oophorectomy (the surgical removal of the ovaries) to reduce their risk of developing cancer.
However, removing the ovaries before natural menopause causes a sudden loss of ovarian hormones, such as estrogen, triggering what’s known as early surgical menopause. In the general population, this early loss of estrogen has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and several other longer-term health issues.
Maïka’s project examined whether this relationship also exists among BRCA carriers. Specifically, does preventive oophorectomy increase their risk of developing cardiovascular disease?
Building connections
For Maïka, the Amgen program experience extended far beyond the lab.
The program offered workshops and networking opportunities designed to help students prepare for careers in research. One highlight was attending the 2026 Amgen Scholars North America Symposium at Harvard University, where she discussed her work and connected with researchers from leading institutions across Canada and the United States.
Those connections also opened another door: a three-week research internship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston under the supervision of Dr. Heidi Yeh, transplant surgeon and professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School.
The best of both worlds
While the URS and USRO solidified Maïka’s passion for research, the Amgen Scholars Program showed her she didn’t have to choose between becoming a physician and a researcher.
“Many of the professors I met through Amgen were clinician-scientists. They see first-hand the problems patients are facing and then go back to their labs and can actually do something to advance the field of medicine,” says Maïka. “I think it’s the perfect bridge between my love of medicine, my desire to diagnose and take accountability for patients and my passion for research.”
For aspiring undergraduate researchers, Maïka has one key piece of advice: don’t let rejection stop you.
“Getting into a research lab at a leading research institution like uOttawa can be very competitive. Be persistent, persevere and don’t give up at the first sign of rejection. It only takes a 1% success rate to end up with an amazing opportunity.”
For Maïka, taking that first chance on the URS ultimately did more than open the door to a lab. It sparked a passion for research that inspired her to become a clinician-scientist.