Preety Ahuja

I attribute my success to curiosity, adaptability, and perseverance. Moving to different countries, transitioning to different research fields, and going from academia to industry taught me how to grow through uncertainty rather than fear it. Curiosity keeps me asking new questions, like when my personal experience as a mother led me to develop a safer sensor for newborns. Adaptability has been essential because I've had to adjust to new countries, new work environments, and new cultural settings throughout my journey. And perseverance is what's required in any field. It's what keeps me moving forward even when experiments fail or progress feels slow. These three qualities have shaped not only my career as a scientist, but also my life as a woman, mother, and daughter who is continuously learning through changes.

The best career advice I've ever received is don't wait until you feel that you're fully ready. Growth happens when you move forward, not when you wait for perfect clarity. If you have something in your brain, in your mind, research it and go for it. Don't wait for everything to be certain before you take the next step. Clarity will follow you as you move forward. This advice has guided me through major transitions in my life, from moving to different countries to shifting from academia to industry, and it's helped me trust the process even when the path ahead wasn't completely clear.

Nobody should wait for things to get fully ready. If you want something, don't underestimate your perspective, just value it and go for it. Because if I had waited for perfect clarity to come, I may never have moved to different countries, shifted fields, and this work on sensors for newborns might not be happening. Clarity often comes through movement, not before it. Learn that progress comes with the next step, even when the future is uncertain. Don't underestimate how valuable your perspective is. Your experiences, even the challenging ones, can shape meaningful ideas and innovations. Like my personal experience as a mother gave me a new scientific question about how to make sensors work at room temperature for neonates. Stay curious, keep learning, and don't let self-doubts limit your ambitions.

Right now, the biggest opportunity is making healthcare more proactive through wearable and portable technologies. We are moving toward a future where we can monitor our health continuously in home care settings, not only in hospitals. You know, the bands and rings we have now can do these things. At the same time, a major challenge is ensuring that these technologies are safe, affordable, and user-friendly for everyday people. It's not just about making things, but making sure people actually know how to use them and that they're truly user-friendly. Bridging this gap between innovation and real human needs is where the future of the field is.

The values most important to me are what my mother taught me, the three P's: patience, persistence, and positivity. She is my pillar, and these three P's are what I believe everyone requires in their career and personal lives. Patience helps you trust the process, even when things feel slow or uncertain. Persistence moves you forward, even when experiments fail or when you're adapting to new countries, new work environments, and new cultural settings. It's what made me go through all these changes. And positivity lets me stay open to opportunities instead of becoming limited by the challenges associated with things. These values have stayed with me not only as a scientist, but also as a woman, as a mother, as a daughter, as one person that is continuously learning through changes in environment, work, and culture. These three P's are important for everyone.