Bangalore :
Ann Sarah Koshy is happiest pulling out sticky, wailing babies into the world. For her, delivering the bundles of poor women and sharing their joys matters most. Now, the young intern with a rural hospital off Sarjapur Road is off to Harvard University to research how Vitamin B12 helps in neonatal growth.
Ann, 22, who completed MBBS at St John’s Hospital, Bangalore, is the recipient of the Obama-Singh 21st-Century Knowledge Initiative. This fellowship was planned as a part of US aid in Indian education when President Barack Obama came to India in 2010. Ann was one among 10 students selected for the research mentorship.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet. I can’t believe they would approve my research and allow me to do a course in global nutrition,” she told TOI.
Ann, though, never wanted to be a doctor. She recalls, “When I was selected to give a farewell day speech in school, I saw my mother walk out to attend a surgery while other parents listened to me in rapt attention. I told myself I’d never become a doctor. I haven’t got enough of my parents because both are doctors. But I don’t know why I gave up maths and studied MBBS, though I scored 99 in mathematics and 95 in biology. I wanted to be an astronaut but they broke my heart when they said I was short.”
It was in 2008 that St John’s Research Institute was chosen under this initiative, and tied up with National Institute of Health, USA.
Ann’s mother Dr Annamma Thomas is professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, and father Dr Reji Koshy Thomas is professor of ophthalmology at St John’s Hospital. She owes her leadership skills and go-getter attitude to her father. “I was the first woman general secretary of the students’ association in St John’s College. I knew I had to break the glass ceiling. I like my job in hospital as I’m the resident doctor and have to take my own decisions,” she added.
At Harvard, Ann will research how vitamin B12 can boost neurological development in a foetus. As a prelude, she’s begun research on 300 pregnant women in Bangalore, across economic strata, and treated 150 of them with vitamin B12 supplements. She plans to compile the research at Harvard in the next six weeks. She also applied for a course in clinical epidemiology and audit course on global nutrition which the US varsity has accepted.
Missed by nurses, patients
Karunapalyam, the rural hospital off Sarjapur Road where Ann Sarah Koshy works, is going to miss their only resident doctor. “Nurses say they’re sad as they won’t have a doctor for the next six weeks. But I’ve promised to come back and complete my internship. My patients also look on me to bring them better service,” says Ann.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> India / TNN / June 28th, 2014