She was presented with the Secretary of State Award for Outstanding Volunteerism Abroad for her technology outreach efforts with disadvantaged Nepali students and received a literacy grant to assist young girls in Mumbai. She has published and presented on a variety of topics and is writing her first book. Gretel is honored to serve and wishes every day could begin in a courtyard full of patients as they experience their own daybreak moment during patch removal. Watching thousands of blind patients see again has transformed her.