Written by Kanchana Devanathan, Ph.D.
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them”, I am quoting the famous quote by Walt Disney here because I have always been a dreamer. Ever since childhood, I dreamt of becoming someone who can cure people’s sickness. I always thought that only a clinician can do that since I grew up in a family of clinicians with medical degrees in different specializations.
Little did I know that I could be someone who can help clinicians in creating better healthcare system. Yes, I chose to earn a degree in Biomedical Engineering and now my dream is turning into reality. My journey started in the southern part of India where I was just an average small-town girl aspiring to be someone who could help people in getting better healthcare.
After high school, I read about Biomedical Engineering online and wanted to pursue that as a degree. During higher studies, I had the opportunity to interact with multiple clinicians which gave me a unique perspective of healthcare. My doctoral thesis focused only on a specific aspect in Image processing but once I graduated, it felt like I could do more. I had this feeling that I was still missing something, that is the exposure to the world-class research.
Vanderbilt university undoubtedly is the best place that I could ever dream of in joining as a postdoctoral research fellow. I have recently moved to USA from India, and the Vanderbilt International Student & Scholar Services (ISSS) have extended their support and guidance in every step of the process. I feel really blessed that I have the most amazing colleagues and staff who made this transition a smooth one.
The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) orientation has helped me to meet and interact with fellow postdocs who have joined at the same time. The OPA board along with Vanderbilt Postdoctoral Association (VPA) are doing an excellent job in keeping the post doc community connected. They also enable the postdocs gain more research insights by organizing workshop, speak-easy seminars and Annual VPA symposium.
I am currently working as postdoc at the Vanderbilt Biophotonics Center (VBC) where our team collaborates with researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) to develop optical diagnostic and treatment modalities. A post-doctoral researcher is always expected to have confined research life but in Vanderbilt it is more like a holistic experience of professional development, training and research.
The research community here is growing stronger everyday with more Interdisciplinary and International research collaborations. I am glad that I had the courage to follow my passion at Vanderbilt which has given me ocean of opportunities to gain experience as a professional. Overall, I am grateful that I got the chance to work with all the amazing people who share similar passion in Biomedical research.