Queens Student Embarks on Neurosurgery Path
Sandhya Konar’s ’28 long-term plans include going to medical school to become a neurosurgeon. Queens University of Charlotte will be an integral part of those plans when she begins classes in the fall to major in biochemistry as her first step toward medical school.
Konar’s inspiration for her plans began as she watched Dr. Devi Shetty on the Netflix series “The Surgeon’s Cut.” She began to research his practice and hospitals, which provide lower-cost heart surgeries and free health care to poor children in his country of India.
After careful consideration and guidance from her mentors, she decided to connect with surgeons in the Charlotte area and received permission to observe some neurological procedures. During one procedure, she watched surgeons perform a deep brain stimulation for 16 hours on a patient with Parkinson’s Disease. While impressed by the doctors as she watched them maneuver in the confined space of a vital organ, Konar kept thinking back to the family of the patient on the table.
She had seen the family outside the operating room huddled as they worried about the surgery’s outcome. She felt compassion for them as they waited in hopes that this surgery would help the family member live longer and have a better quality of life. “Witnessing those intimate moments reminds me that it’s not just a patient that is impacted. Whole families are impacted. Unlike other medical conditions, neurological problems are hard on a family because they can affect a person’s consciousness.”
Konar’s compassion for others complements her passion for learning. She challenges herself by studying surgery case files to see if she can guess the diagnosis. She enjoys the discovery of figuring out the real-life implications of the symptoms. “It’s like putting puzzle pieces together. It helps me make the abstract concepts into concrete examples.”
Konar is well on her way. In high school, she received the Congress of Future Medical Leaders Award of Excellence and was selected to be a delegate representing her high school, in addition to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This award is presented to students for outstanding academic achievement, leadership potential, and determination to serve in the field of medicine.
She chose Queens because she wants a college where she is challenged intellectually and supported personally. “I want my teachers to know me and know my struggles,” she said, “I like close interactions with my teachers and see them as mentors.”
Konar also understands that having meaningful relationships with her peers helps her build confidence. When she struggled a bit with a difficult subject in high school, she and her classmates worked together to apply the concepts they were learning. She explained, “The learning came from the struggle. Often there were moments when my peers reminded me of my own abilities and helped me believe in myself.”
Queens fosters this type of collaborative learning so that students can work together toward their goals.
Konar looks forward to her learning journey at Queens in hopes that it will provide her with experiences and resources that will prepare her for the academic course she planned. She anticipates that her teachers and classmates will value her interests and get to know her beyond the classroom.
By Jennifer Daniel, Ph.D.