HEART FOR SERVICE
Desai shapes children’s health care experiences with global service
Dr. Priti Desai keeps a map of the world on her office wall to remind visitors of the world outside East Carolina University and herself of places and people she holds dear.
Priti Desai leads an Operation Smile volunteer service training with psychosocial service providers and trainees in 2018 in La Romana, Dominican Republic. (Contributed photo by Operation Smile)
She has seen a great deal of the world, volunteering, training and mentoring on nearly every continent. As India’s first certified child life specialist and through her work with Operation Smile International and other organizations, Desai has literally set the standard for, and helped nurture, child life and psychosocial care in many areas of the world.
Desai has received the ECU Office of Global Affairs’ Achievement in International Service and Engagement award, which honors an outstanding faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in and commitment to public service and community engagement that is international or global in scope. The award also provides $500 for international travel.
Desai was drawn to child life work as a child herself. “My first exposure to child life work was through my family. My parents are doctors, my grandfather was a doctor, and I’ve been watching surgical procedures from my childhood,” said Desai. “I saw how frightened children getting treatment were and how anxious their families were, even when receiving compassionate care. From a young age, I pondered how I could make things less scary for children in health care settings. I didn’t know that there was a field called ‘child life’ then. I just saw this gap and felt drawn to it.”
She first learned about child life from her teachers at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, where she earned her Master of Science in child development. Desai began her child life career at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore before spending a decade at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. She joined ECU’s faculty in the Department of Human Development and Family Science in 2002.
Her service work with Operation Smile began in 1992 with a mission to Colombia. From that trip, she says, “I was hooked.” She has since provided child life care on Operation Smile missions in India, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Mexico, Russia, Bolivia, Morocco, Kenya and Nicaragua. She is helping build the capacity of psychosocial service providers through professional development activities across 25-30 countries. She serves on the Operation Smile board’s psychosocial provider specialty council, helping to develop the organization’s global standards of care in child life.
Priti Desai visits with Operation Smile patients in India. (Contributed photo by Operation Smile)
“Dr. Desai has been one of our most valued medical volunteers since joining the organization in 1992 as a Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS). Over the past 28 years, she has participated in patient care and capacity-building initiatives in many regions of the world and she has been an effective champion advancing our vision to provide safe, high-quality compassionate care to children and their families,” Dr. Ruben Ayala, Operation Smile’s chief medical officer, and his leadership team wrote in a nomination letter.
“What cannot be captured on paper,” Ayala continued, “is Priti’s passion and commitment to providing psychosocial support to patients and families around the globe. She has traveled the world sharing patience, compassion, diplomacy, humility, word-class skill and flexibility. We invite you to imagine her in front of patients and their parents, sharing her knowledge with trainees, and creating innovative pathways for care with her colleagues so more may benefit. Her life is a celebration of the commitment few human beings make to giving such significant portions of their lives to help others and to inspire many to do the same.”
In addition to her service with Operation Smile, Desai shares her time and expertise with CanKids…KidsCan, a nonprofit dedicated to children’s cancer care, and KG Patel Children’s Hospital, both based in India. She serves as a volunteer mentor through the Association for Child Life Professionals, most recently mentoring a child life specialist in Kuwait. She has led trainings and workshops in India, Kuwait, Panama and more. In 2013, Desai received the ACLP’s Distinguished Service Award, the highest recognition in the child life field.
For Desai, her international service also benefits her students. “My child life global outreach activities help me to create a more engaging learning environment as I share my experiences in class. I hope it inspires a curiosity and a desire among my students to serve children and families both domestically and worldwide with care and compassion. My teaching, in turn, makes me a better practitioner, as I keep current on research and developments that influence my work.”
“Dr. Desai is an international leader in child life, from working locally with children and youth with heart disease by creating joyful opportunities for them at Camp Wholeheart to her frequent work in India and beyond,” said Dr. Anisa Zvonkovic, dean of the College of Health and Human Performance. “She has led a generation of compassionate professionals who work with tragedy and challenge. We are proud and fortunate to have her here at ECU.”