Week 1
Today marks the end of my first week of being “immersed” in a clinical environment. The beginning of the immersion term has been a busy one for me where I was immediately thrust into the daily life of a surgeon. This included office hours with patients, witnessing a surgery and learning about research projects in the lab.
My clinical mentor is Dr. Jason Spector M.D., an accomplished and prominent plastic surgeon at Weill Cornell Medical. Before this week, my perception of plastic surgeons was that they performed cosmetic alterations rather than life-saving procedures. However, I would soon learn that Dr. Spector specializes in performing complicated reconstructive surgeries to vastly improve patient quality of life and even prevent mortalities.
A prime example of such a surgery occurred on my first day of the immersion term, in which Dr. Spector was called to operate on a patient who had a fistula in their gut repaired. The surgery itself involved Dr. Spector repairing the abdominal wall and removing a large portion of excess fatty tissue from the patient’s abdomen. Additionally, a resorbable bio-synthetic mesh was sutured in place on the repaired abdominal wall to stabilize the repair and prevent the occurrence of a post-operation hernia. As I had never been in an operating room before, I was awe struck by the level of dexterity and confidence exhibited by the surgeons during the procedure. From the moment that I was allowed to observe, the entire procedure lasted over 5 hours.
Dr. Spector is also very active in medical research, being one of the few physicians here that run their own research laboratory. The Laboratory of Bioregenerative Medicine and Surgery focuses on tissue engineering and wound repair. One of the major platforms used in the lab is what is known as the sacrificial microfiber (SMF) technique. In this system, a thermal-sensitive fiber is embedded into a collagen matrix. Upon incubating the platform at 37°C , the fiber dissolves while the collagen polymerizes, creating a collagen construct with an embedded channel that can be subsequently seeded with endothelial cells. This creates a tissue engineered vasculature model. This is especially relevant for my work that involves studying the vasculature and their effect on the stem-cell properties of cancer stem cells. A possible project in the lab is to design a 3D-printed platform for fabricating these SMF constructs to facilitate imaging and syringe pump connections.
Next week I will have the chance to observe more surgeries. Additionally, I plan to begin drafting designs to improve the SMF constructs. The start of the immersion program has been very enlightening and I can only expect to learn more.
My clinical mentor is Dr. Jason Spector M.D., an accomplished and prominent plastic surgeon at Weill Cornell Medical. Before this week, my perception of plastic surgeons was that they performed cosmetic alterations rather than life-saving procedures. However, I would soon learn that Dr. Spector specializes in performing complicated reconstructive surgeries to vastly improve patient quality of life and even prevent mortalities.
A prime example of such a surgery occurred on my first day of the immersion term, in which Dr. Spector was called to operate on a patient who had a fistula in their gut repaired. The surgery itself involved Dr. Spector repairing the abdominal wall and removing a large portion of excess fatty tissue from the patient’s abdomen. Additionally, a resorbable bio-synthetic mesh was sutured in place on the repaired abdominal wall to stabilize the repair and prevent the occurrence of a post-operation hernia. As I had never been in an operating room before, I was awe struck by the level of dexterity and confidence exhibited by the surgeons during the procedure. From the moment that I was allowed to observe, the entire procedure lasted over 5 hours.
Dr. Spector is also very active in medical research, being one of the few physicians here that run their own research laboratory. The Laboratory of Bioregenerative Medicine and Surgery focuses on tissue engineering and wound repair. One of the major platforms used in the lab is what is known as the sacrificial microfiber (SMF) technique. In this system, a thermal-sensitive fiber is embedded into a collagen matrix. Upon incubating the platform at 37°C , the fiber dissolves while the collagen polymerizes, creating a collagen construct with an embedded channel that can be subsequently seeded with endothelial cells. This creates a tissue engineered vasculature model. This is especially relevant for my work that involves studying the vasculature and their effect on the stem-cell properties of cancer stem cells. A possible project in the lab is to design a 3D-printed platform for fabricating these SMF constructs to facilitate imaging and syringe pump connections.
Next week I will have the chance to observe more surgeries. Additionally, I plan to begin drafting designs to improve the SMF constructs. The start of the immersion program has been very enlightening and I can only expect to learn more.
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