In October, Marium Sohail, M.D., a second-year resident at the U-M Kellogg Eye Center, traveled to Karachi, Pakistan to begin her first global health research project. What made this visit especially meaningful was that Dr. Sohail, born and raised in Karachi, arrived this time in her new capacity as a physician, fully equipped with the expertise to help the community where she spent most of her early life. During the three-week trip, Dr. Sohail collaborated with the Aga Khan University Hospital Ophthalmology Department, led by Chair Karim Damji and a local team, on a research project focused on developing and validating the first quality-of-life questionnaire specific to glaucoma in Urdu, the national language of Pakistan and her mother tongue. “Instead of trying to translate an existing questionnaire originally written for a different context, we created a culturally relevant questionnaire from scratch,” says Dr. Sohail. “After development, the tool will be refined through patient interviews and later validated in Pakistan.” Filling the gap for a validated Urdu glaucoma quality-of-life questionnaire will help to enable more individualized care as well as broader research and surgical outcome tracking in Pakistan. “It could also serve as a model for other specialties and regions addressing similar language and context gaps,” she says. Dr. Sohail reflects on the memorable experience of returning to her hometown of Karachi, after being educated in the United States. With initial plans to attend medical school at Aga Khan, she instead decided to attend Columbia University in New York on scholarship. “Karachi made me the person I am today. This trip back represented the professional contribution I can make, and the long-awaited fulfillment of not having been able to work professionally in Pakistan before this,” says Dr. Sohail. “It felt like a loss to me until this trip. I am very grateful for this opportunity.” She notes that her residency at the Kellogg Eye Center has been exceptionally rewarding. “I have been surrounded by hardworking, dedicated, and curious people who want to do better for patients every day,” says Dr. Sohail. “I have had tremendous mentors, including Sangeeta Khanna, M.D., Clinical Associate Professor; and Joshua Robert Ehrlich, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor, who have helped me understand how to approach global health research with rigor, cultural humility, and personal commitment. There is both a privilege and an obligation that comes with medical training abroad.”