Bringing It All Together
The end goal of a BYU education, James Lee says, is to give students chances to apply what they’ve learned. For him, that happened at the Simmons Center for Cancer Research.
Change people's lives at home and around the world
January 2018
Nonprofits in Ghana provide eye health programs that send doctors to towns throughout the countryside to provide free care. Patients are sometimes referred for surgery or further care, for which the nonprofits offer free transportation. There’s only one problem: many patients never show up.
That was just one of the issues examined by physiology and developmental biology student Hayden Doughty and neuroscience student Darius Baradaran on a study abroad supported by the nonprofit Unite for Sight. “The most interesting thing we found,” Doughty says, “is that these people who would come to the clinics and get free eyeglasses or get referred to surgery had no idea how much those services cost. If they want more people to take advantage, we suggested they tell people how much they cost so they appreciate it.”
Doughty and Baradaran presented on their findings at conferences throughout the United States. “I’m applying to medical schools now, and every time I interview, this project comes up,” Doughty says. “I’ve been told this really sets my application apart. And it was an absolutely awesome experience.”
The end goal of a BYU education, James Lee says, is to give students chances to apply what they’ve learned. For him, that happened at the Simmons Center for Cancer Research.
"Mentored research, service, and some skill with a cello have helped Anne Thomas receive the prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship. Her mentored learning experience as a BYU student has propelled Anne to pursue a PhD in plant sciences at Cambridge this fall."
From farming radishes to entering a doctorate program, Felix Jimenez scaled his Andes-like challenges with faith.