ABBOTTABAD: Umair Masood, a 21-year-old student, has won Young Scientist Award 2021 at an international conference featuring students from 121 countries around the world.
Masood achieved this milestone for his contribution in the field of Molecular Diagnostic Techniques at the seventh annual conference held in Australia earlier this month.
“It took me three and a half years [to win this award]. I failed multiple times. I faced financial challenges. It was not easy [to get there],” he said, recounting his journey to global recognition.
Masood presented two research papers at the International Conference on Molecular Biology and Biochemistry in Australia and the 13th International Conference on Tissue and Regenerative Medicine held virtually.
His work explained that people suffering from hereditary diseases could have their diseases detected in a quick and affordable manner while the genes of any living thing can be obtained and transmitted to another.
“I also became disheartened due to repeated failures and considered quitting but motivation came from within that I can pull it off,” he said.
Masood further said that he was denied admission by several Pakistan-based universities for what he said was his low grades.
“I applied to almost all universities in Pakistan, including in Abottabad and Islamabad, but was told that I was not eligible enough to get enrolled,” he said. He then looked for online learning but lacked resources to sign up for courses offered by prestigious institutions like Stanford and Harvard.
The US embassy in Islamabad congratulated Masood for bagging the award.
Congratulations! 🎊 to 🇵🇰 student Umair Masood who has received the ‘Young Scientist Award 2021’ from the American #Lab-Root organization at a conference in which students from 121 countries from around the world participated.
Read more: https://t.co/rIktMrs0kv— U.S. Embassy Islamabad (@usembislamabad) March 9, 2021
