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DESTINY OR DEDICATION? POST-DOCTORAL FELLOW REY ZAFARNEJAD’S JOURNEY AS AN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEER FOCUSED ON HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS
Post-Doctoral fellow Rey Zafarnejad was born in Iran and came to the United States at the age of 22 to pursue higher degrees in Industrial Engineering after graduating from the University of Tehran. She began her PhD at Purdue University in 2019, but followed her mentor to Pennsylvania State University in 2020, resulting in an MS in Industrial Engineering from the former institution and a PhD in the same field from the latter. At OrACORe, Rey is a valued member of the FraPol team who appreciates the diverse research environment. In addition to being a hard worker, Rey is a cat-mom, an amateur guitarist, and a friend to many.
Making the Choice
In some ways, Rey’s road to becoming an industrial engineer may look like the object of fate. The daughter of two engineers (electrical and software), Rey was exposed to the expansive field at a young age. And although she was encouraged by her parents not to follow their specific paths, Rey could not fight against her natural gravitation towards the greater field. In her youth, Rey’s curiosity led her to try several subjects, but she found that her passion always led her back to mathematics and engineering. It turns out that the appeal of the logical, methodical, and critical thinking that the field favors was too strong for Rey to resist – engineering is in her DNA!
Once she decided to pursue engineering, the choice to become an industrial engineer was easy: Rey liked working with systems and thinking creatively to maximize efficiency. What Rey did not enjoy was the idea of maximizing the efficiency and resulting profits of potentially corrupt or unethical companies. However, Rey found that this worry dissipated whenever she was working on healthcare-related projects. So again, another seemingly natural decision was made – Rey would pursue healthcare-related systems engineering.
Following (and Paving) the Path
It would be unfair to attribute all of Rey’s career to fate – as her success would not be possible without a tremendous amount of resilience and hard work. At her undergraduate University, The University of Tehran, in her home country of Iran, Rey was the only engineer, student or professor, interested in healthcare systems. This meant that every time Rey wrote any term paper, she had to embark upon her own mini research project. From early on, Rey had to learn how to gather materials, conduct literature reviews, and find her own way. But Rey loved the work – and was good at it! She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Tehran in 2019 with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering.
When asked about why she decided to pursue a higher degree, Rey said that there was never even a question of whether she was going to pursue a PhD as she enjoyed the work and the learning and had no interest in entering the working world just yet. She jumped at the opportunity to pursue a PhD program at Purdue University, even though doing so required leaving her home country of Iran at the age of 22.
Arriving at OrACORe
Rey was a 3rd year PhD when she was offered a post-doctoral position at MGH, which ultimately led her to OrACORe. During her first six months in Boston, she worked part time with OrACORe and part time in another position at MGH. Within MGH, she collaborated with industrial engineers working on harm reduction, which seemed to match Rey’s PhD experiences working on kidney, COVID, and drug-related research. Meanwhile, Rey had never even considered working in Orthopedics! However, as she began her work with the Frailty Policy Model (FraPol), she learned that it was here that she most belonged: there was a certain harmony between the skills the job required, and the skills Rey possessed, that did not exist in her other position. When Rey realized this, she knew it made the most sense to dedicate herself completely to FraPol – and we were happy to have her as a full-time Post-Doc!
When describing her work at OrACORe, Rey emphasizes that it has been a great learning opportunity, and she has noticed that she has become much more detail-oriented. Most importantly, she has been exposed to professions beyond engineering and has enjoyed getting the opportunity to collaborate with a diverse group of MDs, statisticians, and research assistants. Learning the jargon and communication styles of these different professionals presented a challenge for Rey, but one she was nonetheless happy to take on. In fact, she urges those interested in engineering to broaden their networks and learn how to interact with many different types of people. All in all, Rey describes her work here at OrACORe as an “honor.”
And while Rey may describe herself as feeling lucky to be at OrACORe, we are just as lucky for the careful choices she made and the hard work she performed that brought her here. By following her instincts and passions with full force, Rey carved a path that seems so natural one would believe it could only have been engineered by fate.
