From Volunteering to Published Author: My Journey in Scientific Data Analysis

During the summer of 2023, junior Om Sareen traveled to India to volunteer at Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, where he conducted research on the relationship between age, sex and eye disease prevalence in a government ophthalmology clinic. After months of data analysis, statistical research and a rigorous publication process, his findings were published in the Journal of Emerging Investigators in February 2025.

By Om Sareen '26

During the summer of 2023, I traveled to India where I volunteered with my aunt, an eye surgeon at the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. Shimla is in northern India, in the foothills of the Himalayas, at a 7,000-foot elevation! This is a government hospital, so most of the patients are poor and do not have many resources. The wait times for care can be long and occasionally fights break out. It is very different from our American clinics.

This is where I began my study of analyzing patient demographics in an ophthalmology department. We hypothesized that data collected from patients would reveal relationships between both age and biological sex at birth and the prevalence of specific eye conditions. Specifically, we expected that the sex distribution would be mostly equal across eye conditions, while the age distribution would differ based on condition. Knowledge of these relationships could help medical facilities better allocate finite resources, leading to better patient care.

There were 763 patients sampled and studied, all from Eye OPD in Room 1115, at Indira Gandhi Medical College, between June 19, and July 12, 2023. I analyzed the age, sex and eye disease that these patients were dealing with.

Over several months (once back in the United States), I analyzed  the patient data and identified relationships between age, sex and eye disease. I submitted my findings to the Journal of Emerging Investigators in December 2023. What followed was a tumultuous process of resubmission, scientific editing and copy editing. I had to learn basic statistical analysis and read up on additional details about the subject. For the next year, there was a back and forth between me and my journal contacts until my publication was finished in January 2025. In February 2025, my work was published under the title "Analyzing relationships and distribution between age, sex, and eye disease at IGMCH eye OPD."

I learned a lot from this process. From my time volunteering, I was exposed to people from all walks of life. From my writing, I learned to parse through research publications. I became very knowledgeable on eye diseases and demographics. Finally, from the publication process, I learned what scientists must go through to have their work published. It took a metaphorical village to write this paper, from my aunt (listed as an author on the paper) to the scientists who peer-reviewed and worked on my paper with me at the Journal of Emerging Investigators . Writing the research paper was challenging work, and at times I felt like giving up, but overall, it was a rewarding experience that I would do again.

You can read Om Sareen’s published paper in the Journal of Emerging Investigators here.

If you have questions about Om's study, you can contact him at Om.Sareen@eastsidecatholicschool.org.