International Allergy Awareness

Three weeks, one country, six cities, and a lifetime’s worth of eye-opening experiences.  Parker Junior Rohan Jain spent his winter break in India exploring the vast field of medicine and developing an understanding for those in a foreign part of the world, with different resources than those of access in the US.

Jain was invited to a three-day-long Allergy and Asthma symposium in New Delhi, India, in mid-December, where he met and learned from with doctors from around the world. After the symposium concluded, Jain packed his bags and began his journey to five different cities throughout India, Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Mumbai, and Kachra.

At the Indo-U.S. Symposium on Allergy and Asthma, led by Northwestern and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jain got the opportunity to meet with doctors and researchers from across the United States, Europe, and India.

Jain’s mother, Dr. Ruchi Gupta, is a Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Northwestern Medicine, specializing in allergy and asthma research. Gupta, along with her team at Northwestern, worked with AIMS medical group in Delhi, India to organize this symposium for the international medical community.

Jain was among the youngest of the attendees as one of two high school students. Jain has interned and worked closely with the Northwestern medical community for the past year, exploring an area of interest for him, and working closely with his mother, Gupta. “He was really interested in attending and learning more about the allergy and asthma and how they connect,” Gupta said.

Through his work with Northwestern, he was able to attend the symposium and delve deeper into his interest. “It was tough to understand a lot of the science lingo,” Jain said,“but I understood what I could and made an effort to reach out to other attendees.”

Gupta saw a need for professionals from the field to come together to compare research and share findings on allergy and asthma research, something that can greatly vary depending on the environment lived in, and she saw a need in India. “One thing we were very interested in was building this relationship with India,” Gupta said.

After the symposium concluded, the two, along with Jain’s younger sister, took the opportunity to travel to many diverse cities and villages, some of which are rarely visited by foreigners. In each place the three visited, they saw vastly different lifestyles being lived and experienced many new things. “We got to see the highs of India,” Jain said, “while we also got to see the slums and villages, the local sort of point of view.”

While traveling, Jain met members of various communities throughout India, varying in education level and wealth. Through seeing both the Taj Mahal, an iconic symbol in India, and the slums on the outskirts of Mumbai, Jain was able to take in different worlds. “I learned that both ways of living are equal,” Jain said. “One shouldn’t be considered worse than another, and one shouldn’t be better. They are ways people learned how to live.”

Jain is the current head of the Community, Research Medicine (CRM) club at Parker, where he has shared his interests in medical outreach with the Parker community.  “He is a really great student and kid in general. He is very reflective, and he is a leader,” Upper School science teacher and advisor to Jain, Ryan Zaremba said. “He is kind of what comes to mind when I think of the ideal Parker student.”

Getting the opportunity to attend such a conference in India and experience the life that many live thousands of miles away broadened Jain’s perspective, allowing him to come back and share with his peers. “It was eye-opening,” Jain said. “I have never experienced something where I got to see such a contrast between two different lifestyles.”