First-year biomedical engineering student Kaitlin Bertrand, who was born with Fraser Syndrome, has been awarded the 2026 Anders Tjellström Academic Scholarship from Cochlear for her academic successes.
Fraser Syndrome, a rare and potentially fatal condition that affects 1 in 200,000 newborns, is caused by genetic mutations that affect development before birth. Depending on the severity, it can affect the eyes, ears, internal organs, hands and feet.
Bertrand, who was not expected to survive infancy, underwent more than 30 surgeries, growing up with bilateral hearing loss and vision in one eye. Because both of her ears are impaired, she has incredible difficulty following conversations, locating sounds and hearing speech clearly.
Faced with those realities, her family chose hearing technology over learning sign language. This technology supports her day-to-day communication at home and in school.
From an early age, Bertrand relied on hearing technology to navigate daily life. She expressed her overwhelm as a child when she did not fully understand why she needed constant procedures, and none of her peers had similar experiences. But Bertrand said she always had a strong support system at home.
Looking back, Bertrand explained how both her family and her surgeries shaped her.
“It gave me a lot of strength. It tested my family and I a lot. And so I think now that’s why I want to pursue medicine. [It’s] such a big part of me,” Bertrand told New University.
She began using Cochlear’s Baha system, a bone-conduction hearing device, at two years old on a soft headband, and received updated versions throughout her childhood before eventually transitioning to a surgically implanted system in 2022.
Bertrand didn’t have any friends or family who could relate to her growing up, but her Cochlear devices allowed her to feel more included in everyday family life.
“My family is very outdoorsy, so we do a lot of camping and stuff like that,” Bertrand said. “So being able to hear while we’re doing everything that we do is important.”
At 15, she upgraded to the Cochlear Osia System, an implant designed to provide greater clarity and a wider range of sound, particularly high-frequency sound.
For Bertrand, those advances in hearing technology were not just medical milestones but experiences that changed how she engaged with the world. She described how overwhelming it was to hear new sounds like a water faucet dripping or the shower running.
“To me, those were new sounds that I hadn’t heard before, at least not that loud,” Bertrand said. “And so I think for a second it was overwhelming, but then once I realized how much I missed out on not being able to hear it was really awesome.”
Her improved hearing also made a difference in the activities she loved, including dance — being able to hear the music more clearly helped her timing during rehearsals and performances.
Bertrand’s involvement in dance eventually led to a rare connection with another woman who also has Fraser Syndrome.
While preparing for a trip to Chicago with her high school dance team, Bertrand’s father came across a video online featuring a woman in Chicago who also lives with the condition. The families got in touch and arranged to meet in person during her trip.
As Bertrand, a San Diego local, considered colleges and career paths, her experiences navigating complex medical care led her to pursue a path in medicine.
“As I started looking into careers, I’m like, you know what? I really don’t think at this point. I could see myself doing anything else. And I feel like it’s my calling in life to give back,” she said.
Now, as a biomedical engineering student at UC Irvine, Bertrand has quickly immersed herself in academics and research. She is involved in a lab at the Beckman Laser Institute studying potential medical applications in tissue and cartilage engineering.
“The most recent [project] that I started, is basically a study on doxycycline, which is an antibiotic,” Bertrand said. “We’re testing it on rapid nasal septal cartilage pieces and seeing when we submerge that with some other substances, how it affects the cartilage so that they can potentially use it for different uses.”
She has also recently earned a researcher position at the University of Southern California in auditory sciences, where she will study sound and hearing-related technology.
Bertrand’s academic and research achievements were recognized this year with the 2026 Anders Tjellström Academic Scholarship from Cochlear, an award recognizing students with Cochlear Baha or Osia systems.
Cochlear Public Relations Manager Christy LaPlante said the scholarship program was created to highlight the accomplishments of individuals that use Cochlear technology.
Each year, applications are reviewed through a blind selection process before a panel of audiologists and surgeons selects recipients based on academic performance and community outreach.
“What we look into a lot of times is their age and what they’ve already done,” LaPlante told New University. “To see somebody who’s just a freshman and already doing all that, it’s like a no-brainer”
LaPlante added that it is especially meaningful to see recipients like Bertrand excel academically and eventually pursue work that contributes to the next generation of hearing technology.
For Bertrand, the recognition carries personal meaning — it comes from the company whose technology she has relied on since age two, and whose field she now hopes to shape through her own research.
“To get the scholarship means a lot,” Bertrand said. “So for them to give back to me, to chase my dreams of also changing technology in the future, is really awesome.”
Mya Romero is a Features Staff Writer for the spring 2026 quarter. She can be reached at myajr@uci.edu.
Edited by Avery Rosas and Geneses Navarro.
