Sonia Patel

Sonia Patel was a high school student in Florida when her grandfather was diagnosed with glaucoma. After accompanying him to a doctor’s visit, she learned that there were not many affordable options for synthetic eye models for physicians to train on for measuring eye pressure — one of the key indicators for glaucoma.

This set her on a path to create a solution. She decided to develop a low-tech but accurate model that would allow medical students and residents to practice procedures without fear of injuring their patients. She used her high school’s makerspace and 3D printers to replicate the same dimensions and essential features as an eye — and was able to receive input from clinicians to ensure that it was accurate and useful as a training tool.

Her invention — the Corneal Applanation Suturing Model (C.A.S.M) — won first place for high school seniors at the 2024 RTX Invention Convention U.S. Nationals run by The Henry Ford, as well as The Lemelson Foundation’s Invention Award for Societal Benefit.

Sonia is now attending the University of Pennsylvania, where she is interested in pursuing a medical career with a specialization in ophthalmology. She hopes her cost-effective synthetic model eye device can help medical students in the U.S. — as well as in low-resource settings around the world — better train for optical procedures.