BME Summer Immersion 2023

 The last week of the program felt a bit more relaxed. I worked on my final presentations for the immersion term. I found it very difficult to cut down the content of my presentation to fit in the 4 minute time limit while still giving enough context for the research and also talking about my clinical immersion experience. I also presented at the pathology weekly academic meeting a longer version of my presentation which was surprisingly much easier to prepare since there was no strict time limit. I was initially intimidated by the idea of presenting to pathologists and MD/PhDs that have so much more knowledge and experience than I, however, I got some really good feedback from most of the doctors present as well as the lab technicians and clinical genomics bioinformaticians. It was fun to see a discussion stem from this presentation and be able to offer some of the knowledge I gained working here throughout the summer. Lastly, I shared my R script and python code that I have worke...

 This was the final week of the Immersion program. On Monday, I shadowed Dr. Strickland in the OR for the last time where she performed two tibial tubercle osteotomy distalizations. I also got to help my labmate, Salman Matan, collect healthy articular cartilage samples. On Tuesday, it was my last day helping in the biomechanics lab. On top of helping Kalle with the usual testing and calibration, I watched how they tested a PVA meniscus in the joint simulator. It was interesting to see how the PVA meniscus could be used as a replacement and how testing is done to verify its mechanical compliance. On Wednesday, I shadowed Dr. Strickland in the clinic where again I got to see the patient-clinician interaction and the imaging diagnostic process. On Thursday, I presented about the immersion program to the HSS group and got to talk about how the research I did during the summer connects back to my research project in Ithaca. Finally on Friday, due to my presentation, Dr. Scott Rodeo inv...

 During this last week of immersion, I spent more time shadowing Dr. Hartl in the clinic. I also watched him perform a microdiscectomy.  I had the opportunity to shadow Dr. Matthew Cunningham at HSS as well. On Monday, I observed Dr. Cunningham in the OR. The patient presented with broken metal rods in her spine from a previous fusion. Her spinal fusion started from the lumbar region to the top of the thoracic spine. The broken rods were in the lumbar spine and most likely were broken by movement. On Thursday I also attended Dr. Cunningham's clinic hours. We saw multiple patients with scoliosis which is a bit different from Dr. Hartls patients. Throughout the summer I mostly saw patients with slight spinal curvature at Dr. Hartls clinic. It was interesting to see the differences between neuro spine surgery and orthopedic spine surgery. 

This was the last week of immersion and I spent my time in the lab working with our mice injected with a  breast cancer cell line. This was week three post-injection, and it was time to resect the tumor sample. Before resection, we imaged the mice, taking note to measure their weight and hydrating their eyes with vaseline as they cannot close their eyes under isoflurane. In collaboration with people at HSS, we also performed a cardiac puncture to gather blood samples, as well as a spine resection. A cardiac puncture is a terminal procedure that is performed by poking a hole in the heart and using a syringe to pull blood. Because the heart still pumps blood for several beats, the previous step is repeated so when the heart refills with blood, it can be extracted accordingly.  This summer has provided me with so much invaluable experiences, from working with small animals to gaining a deeper understanding of how the healthcare system works.  I shadowed clinicians in neurora...

  In this week, Monday I went OR with Dr. Gomoll and all his surgeries were similar of what I’ve seen before. The only different surgery was a partial knee surgery that Dr. Sabrina Strickland was going which I had the chance to shadow. I was collecting the osteochondral allograft samples after the surgery is over. On Tuesday, as usual I attended the summer immersion meeting and listen some of my friends who were presenting their summer experience and then I went to clinic with Dr. Gomoll. On Wednesday, I was again in the OR with Dr. Gomoll who was performing two surgeries and one of them was torn ligament in the shoulder. It was eye opening for me to learn the similarities of shoulder and knee. On Thursday, I attended one last clinic while on Friday I was in biomechanics. The summer immersion was one the best things that ever happen to me.    

 I had to leave the immersion term a few days early due to some unexpected family problems, but looking back this was such an amazing experience and I'm so grateful to have had this opportunity! It's hard to believe that at the beginning of this summer, I never even imagined I would have the chance to watch a live surgery in the operating room, interact with dozens of cancer patients at all stages of treatment and recovery, or watch talented doctors analyze a vast array of medical data to collectively determine patient diagnoses. Yet, I was able to do all these things and more over the course of just a few short weeks. I've learned a great deal from my time at the immersion program. There was a lot that surprised me; I couldn't believe how personal Dr. Chandwani was with his patients, getting to know them as intimately as a family member over the course of months-long treatment regimens. I had vague impressions (as we all do) of how intelligent doctors are, but getting ...