‘Unseen Potential’: School of Pharmacy Alumna’s Podcast Advocates for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Alena Abraham, PharmD ’24, launched a podcast as a University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP) student to help ensure that the stories of blind and visually impaired people are heard. Abraham was inspired to start her podcast, “Unseen Potential,” by her brother, Shawn Abraham, who lost his vision when he was 6 years old.

By Jen Badie. Originally published in The Catalyst.
December 16, 2024

Alena Abraham, PharmD ’24, launched a podcast as a University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP) student to help ensure that the stories of blind and visually impaired people are heard.

Abraham was inspired to start her podcast, “Unseen Potential,” by her brother, Shawn Abraham, who lost his vision when he was 6 years old.

“I saw firsthand the challenges and access barriers he faced due to his blindness,” she said. “As we pursued our education and careers, I noticed significant differences in the resources and opportunities available to me, a sighted person, compared to those accessible to him. Shawn often had to navigate systems that were not designed for him. He had to deal with inaccessible textbooks in the classroom and employment discrimination in the hiring process. It was frustrating.”

Abraham, who is now a global regulatory affairs and regulatory affairs international fellow at Merck in New Jersey, hopes her podcast helps to raise awareness.

“I wish for the podcast to serve as a platform for the blind and visually impaired community to tell their stories,” she said. “I hope that these stories can be a beneficial resource to other blind students and raise awareness among the general public about the experiences of disabled people.”

The podcast, which has eight episodes to date, has featured guests from around the country — including college students and recent graduates — who discuss their experiences. Shawn Abraham was the first guest and talked about being a political science major at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, from which he graduated in May 2024, and his experiences in the workplace.

“For employers, it would be great if disability inclusion were something that they thought about and learned about a little more, making things accessible in their hiring practices, in the software they use, and just having it as a consideration,” he said during the podcast.

Shawn Abraham said in an interview that while he was hesitant at first about his sister doing the podcast, he thinks she has done a good job telling the stories of blind and visually impaired people and has learned a lot through the process.

“I’m happy to see both of us talk about these topics more, because growing up, it was definitely a big part of our life, my disability and the perceptions that society had about it, but it’s not something that we talked about,” he said. “I was in advocacy spaces a lot where I did get to discuss those topics, but Alena was not necessarily. So this has been a good process for us, because she’s learning about those topics.”

Memorable Guest

Abraham said one of her most memorable guests was Emily Schlenker, a blind pharmacy student who initially was rejected from pharmacy school and told that sight was essential to be a pharmacist.

“She responded to the discrimination by working harder. She taught herself nonvisual techniques for verifying prescriptions, mixing IVs, and giving vaccinations,” Abraham said. “Her story resonated with me personally because we will both be working in the same field. It made me realize how many access barriers exist for people with disabilities and pharmacy, and the importance of awareness and allyship.”

Abraham said one of the most impactful experiences she had as a student at UMSOP was during a rotation when she led an initiative to create braille labels for medications.

“This project allowed me to address the challenges that blind and visually impaired patients face when accessing essential health information,” she said. “It was an eye-opening experience that helped me understand the real-world impact pharmacists can have on improving health care accessibility.”

Future Plans

At Merck, Abraham is gaining hands-on experience in regulatory processes, including strategizing regulatory pathways, preparing submissions to health authorities, and supporting clinical trials, product registrations, and post-approval changes.

“Through my work, I hope to improve global health by helping deliver life-changing therapies,” she said.

More specifically, Abraham is passionate about increasing diversity in clinical trials to make sure that all patients can access innovative treatments. She plans to pursue this avenue in her career.

“In my role within regulatory, I hope to drive initiatives that enhance clinical trial diversity and ensure that drug development processes accommodate disabled individuals, such as accessible trial designs and product labeling for the blind,” she said. “I also see a need for improved workplace accessibility, advocating for accommodations like screen reader support, and ensuring that individuals with disabilities are placed in visible roles to challenge misconceptions.”

Lauren Hynicka, PharmD, BCPS, associate professor, Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research, UMSOP, who taught Abraham during a fourth-year rotation, said she looks forward to seeing where Abraham’s career — and podcast — take her.

“In a world with so much conflict, Alena’s podcast is a gift that helps us remember our shared human experience rather than focusing on our differences,” Hynicka said. “Alena is warm and open and made the patients on her rotation comfortable and at ease. That openness and acceptance is evident in her podcast, too.”

Abraham has continued to record episodes of “Unseen Potential” since graduation and plans to expand the scope of the podcast to include guests with other disabilities. She wants to use the podcast to advocate for greater accessibility and inclusion in workplaces, schools, public spaces, and technologies.

“Ultimately, I want to facilitate discussions that empower the disabled community and gather public support for creating a more inclusive society for all,” she said.