MBiotech Internship Spotlight Series: Youssef Emam

 

Youssef Emam

DHT Year 2 (Class of 2026)

Internship Placement: Sanofi

What is your role and what does a typical day look like for you?

I lead development of certain features for an internal AI analytics platform at Sanofi. I work closely with stakeholders to gather requirements, iterate quickly on feedback, and ship improvements that elevate the user experience. I also explore new technologies and ways of working to spark innovation across the team and for the customers we support.
 

What has been the most rewarding or exciting part of your internship so far?

The most exciting part of my role has been owning platform features end to end and learning from teammates in Canada, France, Spain, and India to deliver on shared objectives.
 

What skills, technical or interpersonal have you developed the most through this experience?

Technically, I've built skills in Snowflake, SQL, Python, and Power BI, all tools I use to go from analysis to productionized insights people actually use. Interpersonally, I have improved in stakeholder communication, running focused demos, and translating feedback into actionable technical requirements that my team and I can focus on delivering.
 

How did the MBiotech program prepare you for your internship?

The MBiotech Digital Health Technology program gave me the fundamentals I use every day: strong grounding in statistics, ML, and analytics, hands-on experience with R, Python, SQL, and Tableau and the data-literacy and visualization skills to turn analysis into clear insights. Equally important, courses in finance, accounting, and management have helped me to frame data work around business needs through case-based learning.
 

In your view, what makes MBiotech students stand out in the workplace?

In my mind, what makes because we bridge the gap between technical depth and business impact. We can scope, design, and implement scientific/data solutions, and just as importantly, translate them into business language with clear, measurable outcomes.
 

Where do you see yourself professionally in 5 years?

I’m aiming to be a leader who turns data, AI, and analytics into measurable healthcare impact: streamlining workflows, reducing costs, and accelerating insights to bring better, more affordable healthcare to people sooner.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to someone applying to MBiotech?

Be okay stepping outside your comfort zone. The most valuable skill I learned this year was replacing “I don’t know” with “I’m not sure, but I can find out.” Early in our career, there’s a lot we don’t know, and If we don’t challenge ourselves, we will start to stagnate.