Aarthi Anbalagan | The dreamer

I'm a first year grad-student in Brown University studying computer science. It was in September 2015, where I saw a live robotic arm assisted surgery in one of my job related trainings on “Intra vascular Surgery training” in Manipal Hospital, Bangalore. I evidenced how the surgeon used an ultra-smart user interface to control the robotic-arm. The robotic arm performed the surgery with micron-level incision, as it was designed for precision. This incident galvanized my intent to pursue masters in CS, with a few specialized areas like “Human computer interaction” as I believed that a marriage of advanced computing and robotic technology plus a human centered product will be the future of digital healthcare world.
I worked for GE Healthcare for close to four years now. “At work for a healthier world”, the tagline for GE Healthcare, have given me a constant inspiration, as I got to work in a GE’s Next generation Mammography project, on its Patient Data Management(PDM) User Interface. The fact that this Mammography product is going to save a few people’s lives, in diagnosing and treating breast cancer, inspired me to work in healthcare domain. Ever since I met a couple of Usability Engineers from GE France and Qatar, a quick interaction with them about User Experience was an eye-opener for me. When I travelled to GE France, I saw “User Formative Testing” in person. Formative testing is where; radiologists from all parts of continent are invited to use our NextGen Mammography system, without being given any formal training on the usage of our product, to take a sample breast scan. The main intention is to understand how user-friendly our system is. All these experiences further strengthened my interest to do masters with courses like HCI.
Being a young mother of 4year old, I fought my way to Ivy League University. GE taught me what leadership and professionalism is, my son taught me what patience is. As a result, am now an patient professional, call it SW Engineer, front-end designer or developer, whatever.