Unique clinical experience
At LV Prasad Eye Institute, a world-renowned eye hospital dedicated to providing eye care to patients of all economic backgrounds, freshman Jiwon Park found what it means to treat patients and address engineering to a broad assortment of needs and economic conditions. The internship was truly wide-ranging: Jiwon conducted research on public health data exploring outcomes of cataract surgery, developed a portable keratometer and slit-lamp, and consulted with patients.
“I was able to write an entire manuscript, learn Stata, shadow ophthalmologists performing cataract surgeries, and visit the various levels of hospitals in the LVPEI network,” she says enthusiastically. Her research was unique and she only could have done it in India: “Since these types of centers are specific to India, it would be difficult to collect this type of data from US hospitals." Jiwon says she learned a great deal from her experience with Dr. Rohit Khanna in the Gullapalli Pratibha Rao International Centre for Advancement of Rural Eye Care.
Professional presentation
Jiwon was the only undergraduate selected as one of six Student Leaders in Global Health in Community Based Research for the 2015 Unite for Sight Conference, an international health conference held at Yale University, where she presented on her research in the outcomes of cataract surgery.
In the future, Jiwon plans to combine medicine, public health, and social entrepreneurship, and through MIT India she has made a crucial first step. “After my experience at LVPEI, I confirmed my interest in becoming a physician-scientist who solves international health problems with the power of science and technology,” she says.
