Dr Stephanie Mohammed leading groundbreaking research on PCOS

When a medical misdiagnosis drove her to seek her own answers, Dr Stephanie Mohammed uncovered the passion and purpose of her life. Mohammed, along with a team, is leading groundbreaking research on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) a condition that affects many women worldwide.

Motivated by the lack of baseline data in T&T, and a love for science and research, she has pursued research in the area, leading to the first-ever study on the effects of electromagnetic radiation on PCOS.

This work has not only advanced scientific understanding of the condition but has helped reduce the stigma associated with female reproductive health issues. Dr Mohammed graduated from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine with a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Chemistry, and began working in her family’s construction business.

Seeking to branch out into her own pursuits, she designed and built a hydroponic system, in which she grew hydroponic lettuce, chive, and celery and sold them to supermarkets including the then-Hilo and Persad’s.

“I wanted to help people get good, fresh, affordable produce, and reduce price margins,” she says, “I grew up in a home where we did a lot of charity work.” Mohammed knew that ultimately her career path would be driven by her desire to serve others. Coupled with her love for sciences, she was eventually drawn to the medical field, wanting to apply physics in medicine.

When Dr Mohammed began experiencing symptoms of irregularity in her menstrual cycle, she was misdiagnosed with PCOS and prescribed birth control as the remedy. Quickly realising there was a gap in the medical field as it pertained to data surrounding PCOS, she honed in on studying electromagnetic radiation and making crucial linkages on how it could relate to the condition.

She did her MPhil at the UWI, which was upgraded to a PhD because of the novelty of her research. Mohammed induced rats with PCOS so that their ovaries would become cystic, and their hormonal balance would be disrupted. Then, she kept the rats in a cage where they were exposed to a non-harmful frequency of radiation.

Her pioneering research, which is still continuing, showed that the radiation successfully helped reduce cystic follicles in rats, but the research still requires replication and testing before it is conclusive. Science has been Mohammed’s calling for as long as she can remember.

“I thought I wasn’t smart enough to go into medicine, but that was because of my self-esteem.”

She recalled when she was in Form 3 at Tabaquite Composite, she desperately wanted to do Physics but was put in the class for Food and Nutrition. “I created a riot,” she laughs, and eventually the Physics teacher advocated for her to join the class. It is impossible to ignore her love for the subject, as she says “Physics is all around us, it determines how everything works, how our bodies work, and the laws of nature.” Indeed, this love for Physics has not only informed her career choice but has allowed for her international recognition from conferences in Italy, the Netherlands, who have awarded her research.

Along with a team of established scientists, including Prof Ricardo Azziz, the founder of the AE-PCOS Society, she is collecting crucial data for research to advance the treatment of PCOS in T&T.

In a collaborative effort, supported by the St Augustine Rotary Club, the team ran a prevalence study to assess PCOS in T&T, across multiple geographic locations, with 250 participants between 18-45 years old.

Preliminary data found a seven per cent prevalence of PCOS in T&T, and a strong association with PCOS and acanthosis (darkening of skin under arms and behind neck), along with a strong association with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

This important data has huge implications for not only the study of PCOS in T&T but also the understanding of lifestyle diseases such as Diabetes which has a high national prevalence. Offered a post-doctoral position at the University of Pennsylvania, Mohammed has now taken her love of science worldwide.

She is using data sets and creating data models to predict outcomes of PCOS, and also recently started researching menopause. Mohammed wants to use her experience and information at the University of Pennsylvania to benefit her home and hosts webinars with people from over 23 countries about PCOS, and webinars for adolescents to understand the signs of PCOS.

According to the World Health Organization, she says, “We need to start diagnosing reproductive issues from adolescence, and encourage young people to get their reproductive health checked.”

Mohammed added that “the purpose of a scientist is to serve humanity,” and she hopes to reach many women, even and especially those who have been misdiagnosed as she was. “When I meet patients, I feel sorry for them that there’s no information, and people can end up taking wrong or unnecessary treatments and medication.”

It is this desire to serve that drives her, not a desire to be rich, and she also hopes to make a meaningful contribution to the country. She encourages young women interested in STEM to “stick with it, network, and don’t let anybody or anything hold you back.”

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