12/16/2022 Bethan Owen
Bioengineering postdoctoral research associate Seonyeong Park recently received the 2022 Innovator Award through the Chicago area chapter’s Association for Women in Science.
Written by Bethan Owen
Working in the sciences means having the opportunity to further your field while also helping people around you in tangible, practical ways. Bioengineering postdoctoral research associate Seonyeong Park’s research has enough potential to change lives that she recently received the 2022 Innovator Award through the Chicago area chapter’s Association for Women in Science.
Seonyeong joined the Computational Imaging Science Laboratory led by Professor Mark Anastasio in 2017, where she developed a specialization in photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT), also known as optoacoustic tomography. Since then, she’s gone on to develop her biomedical imaging and computing (BIC) interests in all kinds of directions, including contributing work towards improving breast PACT, a promising method of breast tissue imaging.
With her BIC skills to support her, Seonyeong began tackling difficult problems in the healthcare field. Specifically, she saw a need for a better, more accurate way to screen for breast cancer.
“Despite annual screenings, up to 30% of breast cancers in the United States are missed in diagnoses because of the sensitivity of mammography,” Seonyeong said. “This percentage is so significant that high-risk patients are encouraged to receive supplemental whole-breast screening. But breast PACT is a promising imaging technique because it is non-ionizing radiation, it’s less expensive than breast MRI, and is much more specific than mammography.”
In addition to providing more accurate breast cancer screenings, Seonyeong’s work might help level the playing field for people of color
receiving medical care. The amount of melanin in a person’s skin has an effect on how their tissues appear when they are imaged, and this extra factor in the imaging process means that patients of color might be more likely to be misdiagnosed. Part of Seonyeong’s ongoing work involves ensuring that melanin levels are taken into account when patients are scanned with breast PACT, so that everyone can benefit from the technology.
With this body of work behind her, it’s no surprise that Seonyeong took home the 2022 Innovator Award.
“I'm truly honored to receive the award,” she said. “And it is very rewarding when your efforts are recognized. This award reminds me that I'm working on valuable research projects, which motivates me.”
At the awards ceremony, Seonyeong met women from many different STEM fields, all in different stages of their careers.
“It was really inspiring,” she said. “I could see myself being like those women in the future. It made me think about the next steps I want to take.”
Seonyeong didn’t come from an engineering background, and that combined with the transition from her native South Korea to university in the U.S. came with its own challenges.
“When I decided to pursue a Ph.D. program abroad, I honestly did not have full support from my family,” Seonyeong said. “Now my parents are proud of me, but at that time, I think they worried that it would be really tough to survive in Engineering, a male-dominated field, in the U.S. as a foreign Asian woman. I was and am a stubborn daughter, so I stuck with my plan anyway.”
Her journey through the field of bioengineering has taught Seonyeong a lot about life as well as academia.
“I would like to tell young women in STEM who think their future is uncertain the following things,” said Seonyeong. “If you do not know something, you can learn it. Do not be intimidated. Train yourself to be independent. Most importantly, believe in yourself.”