Marie Lucie Chantal Nyiragaruka was just 16 years old when conflict broke out in Rwanda in 1994, resulting in a genocide that left an estimated 800,000 people dead. Having survived such suffering, including the death of her parents and three of her five siblings, today this young biotechnologist is focused on bringing physical healing to her people by promoting the use of local medicinal plants. After the genocide, Nyiragaruka was responsible for her younger sisters. “When we got sick with coughs or other illnesses, we made treatments from plants because that was all we had,” she recalls. “My grandmother was a traditional healer and my mother was a nurse. I think this is where my interest in traditional medicine began.”