During my summer research experience at Praava Health, I got the unique opportunity to work on various tasks in many different areas. As Praava rapidly begins to expand into other regions of Bangladesh and treat new patient populations, they have been meeting more frequently with investors to reach their funding goals. Many of my tasks this summer were oriented around projecting the growth of Praava, both in terms of patients as well as revenue. I also did some work on estimating the number of patients receiving treatment at Praava for chronic health conditions. The conditions were sorted out into four major categories: diabetes, heart diseases, lung diseases, and chronic kidney diseases. This was a necessary component in estimating future costs, as patients with chronic conditions tend to have multiple visits within the year and require more expensive care. The research that I used to create a poster for my Global and Population Health summer course was a literature review focused on vitamin D deficiencies in Bangladesh and the effect they have on the severity of COVID-19 infections. A large portion of the Bangladeshi population lacks sufficient amounts of vitamin D, due to religious reasons, lack of proper nutrition, or otherwise. This deficiency makes much of the population at risk for contracting more severe cases of COVID-19, adding increasing strain on available treatment centers in the country. This research was useful for the team at Praava, as it demonstrated the importance of ensuring that patients have sufficient levels of vitamin D, either through diet or supplementation.

At Praava, many of the team members that I worked with had backgrounds focused in areas of business or consulting. Unfortunately, due to being remote for my research, I didn’t have many chances to work with the medical or lab team. However, this did not hinder me from applying what I’ve learned the past year at the College of Dental Medicine to my research projects. A lot of the tasks I was assigned to required knowledge of how to categorize different diseases, and I was able to assist the Praava team in this endeavor. My work on the relationship between vitamin D deficiencies and COVID-19 also required a fairly extensive knowledge on how diseases are transmitted, and the immunological process that occurs during an infection. It was very rewarding to have the opportunity to apply the information I’ve been learning this past year in my summer research in a way that I’m not used to, and seeing how impactful it can be to combine aspects of medicine and and business to help others.

I think the biggest challenge I faced was working remotely, and a miscommunication on the expectations for me this summer on Praava’s end of things. While it was a great learning opportunity to work with their team these past 10 weeks, I found it very difficult to actually find a long-term project I could work on and present to my colleagues in the Global and Population Heath course. My work as a medical intern for them consisted of a lot of smaller, short-term projects that weren’t necessarily substantial enough for one to create a structured thesis, which I found a little frustrating. However, I think this was a frustration that might only be felt from someone coming from the field of medicine. I had a preconceived notion that my research would be something similar to many of my peers, in which they began with a hypothesis, and continued work centered around that. I think working at Praava would be a fantastic opportunity with someone with a background in business who is interested in learning more about building a company or entreprenurial skills. I think if this opportunity could be hosted in person, medical or dental students would have more ability to conduct scientific research, whether it’s in the lab or by working directly with patients.

I think my biggest takeway from the experience was how much goes into starting a new company, and building something from the ground up. Sylvana was an amazing mentor, and it was incredible to witness how all of her work at Praava has created something that positively impacts millions of people. While I don’t have much interest in starting or running a business, working at Praava did help me to appreciate the fact that making healthcare accesible to all isn’t the easiest task, but it is necessary work. While there might be a different set of problems with healthcare in America, this experience has further fueled my passion to provide dental care to underserved populations. While it’s still early in my dental career, I would love to complete this work by practicing in an area that faces inaccesibilty to proper dental care, and/or by providing free or low-cost treatment.