Basak Deveci Summer proves that a woman can soar in the male-dominated field of ophthalmology as long as she keeps her chin up and strives on.
Basak Deveci Summer has worked in the ophthalmology industry for 11 years, and the 36-year- old medical biologist is associated with Biotech Vision Care Pvt Ltd (Ahmedabad, India)* – she’s responsible for clinical affairs and training in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
“My responsibilities include designing study outline, program and protocol feasibility, selecting appropriate site and managing clinical research assistants (CRAs) who are monitoring clinical trials on a day-to-day basis in the clinics. Besides, I provide support for the marketing team in the form of medical writing of product brochures, presentations, doctors’ presentations for congress and so on. I also train surgeons and sales teams on new products in my area,” she shared.
Within five years of working in Biotech Vision Care, Ms. Summer has published five studies about their products, with more in the pipeline.
“The process of having a publication in any ophthalmology or medical journal is a challenging and time consuming process wherein a lot of data is needed to be collected within a certain period of time, before being submitted to the ethical committee along with a clinical study protocol to obtain an approval according EU regulations. Publishing a study means at least two years of effort to complete all the steps and have a manuscript written by the investigator,” she explained. She had also been in-charge of organizing the Biotech Dinner Event and Lunch Symposium at the Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) in 2017 & 2018, respectively.
Discovering Her Passion
Interestingly, Ms. Summer had never planned to work in the field of ophthalmology. Having graduated with a bachelor’s degree in medical biology, she wanted to pursue a master’s degree in molecular biology, but wasn’t able to do so due to financial constraints. So, she sought out work and was hired by a Turkish company that distributed Zeiss, Ophtec, Mediphacos, Moria and Avedro products.
“I was hired as an application specialist. In that position, I travelled a lot. I attended trainings provided by manufacturers of high technology devices and with the knowledge that I gained, I explained to and trained doctors about the devices, treatment planning and patient selection. I also attended many surgeries which involved devices like the excimer laser, femtosecond laser, microkeratomes, phakic IOLs, intra-stromal corneal rings and so on,” she said, adding that, due to her scientific background, she was able to improve her understanding of ophthalmology quickly and soon fell in love with it.
After six years, she resigned from the company and had a short stint working in the international marketing team of the Bir Inci Eye Hospital in Istanbul before being offered to take up the position of assistant manager in clinical affairs and training, EMEA, by Biotech Vision Care. She was subsequently promoted to the role of manager.
“Working in this field, I realized how precious our sight is. When we can see, we often take our sight for granted. Ophthalmology is amazing as it deals with a very delicate organ and arguably the most important sense of human being. This field is also very interesting and challenging due to the many innovations and development in terms of technology. Things are advancing very fast and there are new things every day that I need to read about, understand and discuss with my colleagues.”
“When I first started my career, there were only microkeratomes to create a LASIK flap. Later, the femtosecond laser for flap creation came into existence. Subsequently, the femtosecond laser was also used for cataract surgery, and now we are talking about Zepto for capsulorhexis or SMILE for myopic and astigmatic correction. All these happened in merely 10 to 12 years,” recalled Ms. Summer.
She is also in awe of the wonders and miracles in this field. “It’s always wonderful to see the reaction of patients with high myopia after a phakic IOL implantation, the happiness of young patients who see the world clearly for the very first time after a vision correction procedure, the wow reaction of LASIK patients for being able to see clearly without glasses, and the joy of cataract patients for feeling young once again after trifocal IOL implantation,” said Ms. Summer.
“Moreover, today, we are seeing a higher percentage of women working in ophthalmology compared to other medical disciplines. A professor once told me that almost one-third of the all ophthalmologists are women and it makes the industry sort of more ‘civilised’, because, if there are enough women in any group, the behavior of men in that group will change for the better and there will be more collaboration, which leads to better results.”
Rising Up to the Challenge
Ms. Summer acknowledges the challenges she faces in her career for being a woman. “I guess, like many other industries, the inequality lies in terms of salaries, getting a promotion and getting hired. Throughout the 11 years in this industry, I was invited for job interviews by local and international companies on a few occasions. Interestingly, after the interviews, even though I was told that I was one of the two best candidates, the male candidate got hired. I believe that because of my gender, it was a concern that I may get pregnant and leave the work for four to six months, or I may not travel as often as they like,” she explained.
“As a woman, I have to convince people that I could achieve any task and overcome the challenges as much as male counterparts can. Getting a chance at any task is the most challenging part. So, whenever I get a chance to do something, I have to be extremely careful as not to fail. As far as I have observed, there is almost zero second chance for women in this industry.”
“Positions which are similar to mine are mostly filled by men because there’s a lot of traveling to do. Hence I also need to convince everybody I could travel as much as needed,” said Ms. Summer, who travels for five to 15 days a month.
She attributes her ability to travel so much to the support provided by her husband whom she has been happily married to for the past two and a half years. “My husband is always supportive whenever I am working hard on my projects. Instead of complaining that I am spending too much time in work, he always encourages me to achieve my very best,” she shared.
Ms. Summer’s favourite quote is: “Never give up, never give in.”
“As a woman especially, we need to keep our chin up and work hard. We need to accept the fact that discrimination towards women has been a problem since ancient times in all societies. Nevertheless, we as women shall keep trying and showing to everyone that we can achieve tasks, manage people and situations in a very kindly and efficient manner. As a woman in this age, we are in a better situation than any woman 50 years ago. We need to remember the past efforts of the women before us and continue this legacy for future generations,” she said.
*Biotech Vision Care Pvt Ltd is part of the Biotech Healthcare Group (www. biotechhealthcare.com).
