Ben Weppner/Dr. Hooman Kamel - Week 2

Week 2: 06/11/23-06/16/23

On Sunday, I attended Dr. Martin Prince's MRI course. Here, I was able to learn how to operate an MRI scanner. I enjoyed being able to operate such a high-tech machine and one that is directly related to my research. Also, it was a very helpful introduction to me as I will likely need to operate an MRI scanner sometime during my PhD which I am excited to do.

On Monday, I had a meeting with my clinical mentor, Dr. Hooman Kamel. I was able to discuss the direction of my research project, as well as the expectations of me for the summer immersion program. Since he was not the attending physician in the neuro ICU for this week, Dr. Kamel put me in contact with Dr. Merkler, the attending for this week.

After my meeting on Monday, as well as after the immersion meeting on Tuesday morning, I spent time working on research in Dr. Yi Wang's lab. I was working with other members of the lab on understanding the constrained constructive optimization (CCO) algorithm which I discussed last week. I believe I now have a much deeper understanding of how the algorithm works and its usefulness for creating synthetic vasculature which can be used for blood flow simulation.

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I spent time with the neuro ICU team at Weill Cornell Medical Center under the attending physician, Dr. Merkler, as they went through rounds. I had the opportunity to watch as they gave updated reports on each of their patients, as well as visit the patients to check how they're doing and answer any questions the patients and/or family may have. I enjoyed being able to see how they meticulously studied each patient's case, discussing all potential steps that need to be taken. Also, having the opportunity to see the patients was very eye-opening for me as this was the first time I was seeing patients who had suffered brain injuries beyond looking at MRI scans.

On Thursday after rounds, I spent time with Dr. Elcin Zan, a radiologist who specializes in neuroradiology and nuclear medicine. She allowed me to sit in as she examined patients' cases, as well as provided me with details on what the different scans were and what she looks for based on the patient's report. I enjoyed the opportunity to see how the radiologists are able to diagnose patients based on the scans, as well as discuss potential shortcomings of medical imaging with Dr. Zan, which could directly tie into my research on measuring perfusion from MRI. Also, it was a great teaching experience for me as I learned about other types of scans which I had never seen before, such as MRI-PET, as well as how particular neurological diseases appear on different scans.



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