As a young girl, living in Montevideo, Uruguay, Natalie Brossard-Barbosa remembers a childhood shaped by the generosity of the people around her. She recalls her parents’ devotion to helping others, and the way her grandfather’s altruistic presence permeated every place he went.
“You never know what goes inside your head, but you end up doing what you are taught at home,” Brossard-Barbosa said while reflecting on her current career path as a neuro ophthalmologist, an expert who studies and treat vision problems that are related to the brain.
“This can make people happier. This can make people enjoy their lives more,” Brossard-Barbosa said. “You can bring peace to someone who is suffering, or some form of relief when you help them at least partially.”
It’s a profession she watched her aunt undertake, and it’s part of what inspired her to leave Uruguay, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, to purse a fellowship at the University of Toronto for cataract surgery and glaucoma treatment training.
“Everything was closed,” Brossard-Barbosa said about her introduction to Toronto. “There was no chance of making friends, and I knew no one.”
But her mission to find purpose allowed her to acclimate to her new normal. During the fellowship Brossard-Barbosa fell in love with the connection between the brain and the eyes.
“It got to this point where I was like, ‘yeah, saving lives is amazing, but at the same time, helping people see, that's equally important,’” Brossard-Barbosa said.
This specialty training ultimately landed her a position at the University of Rochester Flaum Eye Institute where she’s been working for the past three years doing surgery on people whose eyes are crossed — a condition known as strabismus.
“She prides herself on taking care of her patients in any way possible,” said Abigail Fast horse, who schedules Brossard-Barbosa's patients at the institute. “She makes sure she understands what's going on with their eyes neurologically, and that they get the care that they need. “
Brossard-Barbosa sees at least 20 patients a day and Fast horse says she does it all with a warm disposition and smile on her face.
“They (the patients) always all come out and tell us that she's the best and that they love her, and they'll never change providers,” Fast horse said.
But for Brossard-Barbosa it’s all about fulfilling her purpose and changing lives.
“Helping people is rewarding,” Brossard-Barbosa said. “It's a technical job, but very rewarding.”
