But for the lifelong animal lover, it is simply a calling – something she worked incredibly hard for.
To qualify as a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist – one of only around 500 such specialists worldwide – she had to go through more than 10 years of veterinary school, internship, and specialised residency training.
To mitigate the hefty costs, she had to simultaneously work four part-time jobs as a live-in veterinary nurse, pet shop assistant, university tutor and lab demonstrator to help fund her veterinary studies.
Inspired by her passion for the field, during her residency training in Australia, she even embarked on an ambitious mission to find a cure for canine corneal endothelial degeneration, a condition where corneal cells break down, causing swelling and cloudiness, which impair vision and, in severe cases, leads to blindness.
This usually occurs in older dogs or breeds with a genetic predisposition. Cats also may suffer from the condition, though it is less common.
Between 2015 to 2018, Dr Boo worked on adapting a human surgical technique for partial dog cornea transplant, and as part of her innovation, invented a medical device – Boo-K9 AAC, named after her – to replace the damaged part of the cornea. Her technique is still being used worldwide.
