Like Father, Like Daughter: A Generational Calling to Improve the Lives of Cancer Patients
Raised in a home shaped by medicine and compassion, University of Miami senior Samantha Sekeres is following her father’s path into oncology—combining research, patient care and a shared commitment to improving lives.
As the child of health care workers, Samantha Sekeres remembers dinnertime conversation centered not just on the science of medicine but on the quiet responsibility of caring for others. That moral framework made an early impression, and she doesn’t remember ever imagining a future outside of health care.
“To me, there was no other option,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine what anyone else did when they grew up except become a doctor, nurse, pharmacist or PA. I grew up hearing that if you want to do something with your life that helps other people, that’s what you should do.”
Samantha also remembers accompanying her father, Mikkael Sekeres, M.D., chief and professor of hematology at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, to “Bring Your Child to Work” day when he worked at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Sekeres recalls his young daughter proudly putting on a white coat and touring the operating room.
“She always had an interest in science and medicine,” he said.
Now, as Samantha prepares to graduate in May from the University of Miami with a degree in biomedical engineering and a minor in health management and policy, she’s charting a future shaped by the example set by her father, a leukemia researcher and physician who has dedicated his life to helping patients.
Finding a Path Toward Oncology
By the time she arrived at the University of Miami, Samantha already knew she wanted to pursue medicine and found herself drawn toward oncology. She spent summers shadowing a hematologist and conducting brain cancer research at Cleveland Clinic. Then she found her place during her junior year, researching chronic lymphocytic leukemia in the lab of Justin Taylor, M.D., Sylvester researcher and associate professor of hematology at the Miller School.
Research, she said, often begins with accepted ideas about how pathways and signaling cascades function inside a cell, only to reveal the biology is far more complicated than expected. Samantha’s work focuses on a mutation found in certain patients who don’t respond to treatment the same way as others.
“What can you figure out about the biology that is different and makes the treatment not work?” she said. “Taking this from patients and back into the lab with the goal of improving the treatment for those patients felt like the perfect connection.”
A Rare Father‑Daughter Scientific Mentorship
Her father has offered not only inspiration but a rare form of mentorship.
“I find it really cool that I can talk to him about what I’m doing and he not only understands it but also has experience with the same thing,” Samantha said. “He knows what these treatments are that didn’t work for certain patients, and if I tell him I ran into an issue, he gives me advice.”
In a field as specialized as leukemia research, that kind of connection is unusual.
“When you get into these really niche areas, the odds someone understands what you’re doing is really low because it’s so specific. So the fact that he does is really neat,” she said.
For her father, the feeling is just as meaningful.
“It’s the greatest joy imaginable,” Dr. Sekeres said. “She’s seen how much I love what I do, how much I love seeing patients, how they inspire me and how invigorating it is to do research that will make people’s lives better.”
As Samantha progressed in her education, he said, she gained a deeper understanding not only of the biology of cancer but also of the stakes of the work.
“It has been wonderful to see her get involved in a lab focused on leukemia research,” Dr. Sekeres said. “I can hear the tone of her voice increase when she talks about her own research.”
That shared language of science grew out of the values of their home.
“Obviously, when we were sitting around the dinner table, we would never talk about specific patients because that would violate privacy,” Dr. Sekeres said. “But we would talk in general about what a day in clinic was like, taking care of people, or about some recently published research that we were excited about because it would change people’s lives for the better.”
Over time, those conversations became part of what he calls “the hidden curriculum” of their family.
“The things important to us were caring for other people and doing things that could make their lives better,” Dr. Sekeres said. “Sam is an incredibly smart young woman, and when you’re given a gift like that, it’s your moral responsibility to use that gift for the betterment of others.”
He emphasized that Samantha was never pushed toward medicine or oncology.
“We’ve always let Sam find her own path and just been supportive of her as parents,” Dr. Sekeres said.
Looking Ahead: A Future in Hematology and Cancer Research
After graduation, Samantha plans to apply to medical school while continuing her research.
“Where my dad’s career is and how he speaks about the care he gives and the research he does is a driving factor,” she said. “I see that someone is able to improve the lives of others because of research that came before me, and I want to improve this research for another physician like my dad.”
For Samantha, that calling began at the dinner table, took shape in hospital hallways and research labs and now points toward a future in hematology. It is, in every sense, in her blood.
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Tags: Acute Myeloid Leukemia, blood cancers, cancer research, Dr. Mikkael Sekeres, Leukemia, lymphoma, Newsroom, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center