Visit to the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)

Me with Guoan Li
(I'm the one in the black shirt)

On July 21, 2010, I visited the bioengineering lab of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). It is one of the largest and the most prestigious hospitals in the world. Nearly ninety thousand people move in and out of the hospital. On July 21, 2010, I visited the bioengineering lab of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The hospital boasts top-notch care, innovative research, and intensive teaching. It is most famous for its orthopedic studies. Led by Guoan Li, a Chinese professor, the group publishes many papers and performs hundreds of surgeries. That day, I toured around the research center. I met and talked with Guaon Li about his research. He said that he enjoys his research very much.

Me in front of a mechanical limb

Guoan Li and his crew create robots and other mechanical limbs in order to assist handicaps and other disabled people. In a large storage room beside his lab, there are multitudes of robot limbs. Thanks to their creations, the Massachusetts General Hospital uses them all the time in surgeries and rehabilitating patients.

Harvard Law School Project on Disability

Harvard Law School has launched a project called the HPOD (Harvard Law School Project on Disability). This project was made in order to strengthen the influence of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It is true that the CRPD helped more than 650 million disabled people all around the world. However, many disabilities do not know how to make their communities realize that disabilities should be treated as the same way as normal people. Likewise, numerous businessmen, leaders, and organizations do not understand the hardships handicaps face with in their everyday life. HPOD strives to allow disabilities and normal humans to know each other better.

There are several ways that HPOD will reach its goals. First, disabilities will be taught about their own rights and know how to achieve them. Members will raise awareness in the normal society about the difficulties of handicaps. Second, HPOD will convince other major international organizations to raise awareness and help disabilities in need. Finally, HPOD will create scholarships for disabilities applying for colleges, high schools, universities, or other academic institutions.