First published 2012
Dr. Maya Patel stares at the latest patient scans in her Mumbai clinic, watching another case of diabetic retinopathy threaten to steal someone's sight. The epidemic has arrived with full force across India, where diabetes rates climb alongside economic growth. Maya and her research team race to understand the connections between retinal anomalies and the diseases that cause them. They investigate everything from viral infections that damage both brain and eye to promising isoproterenol treatments that might restore damaged blood vessels and cellular function. The work extends beyond diabetes to age-related macular degeneration and rare conditions that combine vision loss with hearing impairment. As Maya develops new diagnostic techniques using optical coherence tomography and computer analysis, she confronts the weight of millions depending on medical breakthroughs that feel perpetually just out of reach.
Genres: science-fiction, medical, contemporary, academic
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: medical-drama, race-against-time
Setting: Mumbai, India
163 pages · Hardcover · Nova Biomedical