When Grief Became Purpose: My Journey Into Heart Valves

My research didn’t begin in a lab. It began in a hospital room, when my mother passed away from heart valve disease and angina.

I didn’t know it then, but something shifted inside me that day. I couldn’t accept the helplessness I felt — the way we all stood there, powerless against something so small and so deadly.

I was already an engineer. I understood systems. But this loss made me want to understand life — its fragility, its design, and where things go wrong.

That’s when I began my journey — from mechanical engineering to chemical, and into the world of heart valve research. Years of work, confusion, doubt, and discovery followed.

Now, as I near the end of my PhD, I don’t just carry data — I carry my mother’s memory. I carry the hope that someday, someone like her will have a better chance because of the work I chose to do.

This journey was never just academic. It’s personal. It’s grief transformed into purpose.