Chembur based ENT Doctor Sonali Pandit has come in the limelight since the news of her research flashed in the international media earlier this week. She was part a discovery made by Australian university team when they used stem cells from the nasal cavity to restore initial hearing loss.

She has been working with a private hospital Vashi after returning back to India nine months back and she stated that hardly a few people knew about her contribution into this breakthrough research. She took up this opportunity as a part of her doctoral thesis at Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney.

"My work was done on mice, and I want to take it further. A lot of work on stem cells is being done in India though nothing has been done in the field of hearing loss. So, I am hopeful of taking up research here”, said the doctor.

Describing this breakthrough, she said that her team placed the stem cells from the nose into the inner year or cochlea.

Hearing loss has been reported as one of the fastest growing medical problems due to rise in the usage of gadgets like I-pods and cell phones.