Jacob FrenchmanJunior BIOSC major and pre-med I got involved in my lab at the UPMC Center for Clinical Neurophysiology through a friend (NETWORKING!!) in the fall of my Sophomore year. I was scrambling to find research because I felt as if I was behind the curve (which I wasn’t!) and she happened to be looking for two new research assistants to help analyze data for her Honors thesis and urged me to apply. At first, I was nervous to join the lab because, as a Biological Sciences major, I had no educational background in neuroscience whatsoever. But, working in my lab has been a fantastic experience for me because it continues to challenge my understanding of the medical field, forces me to study topics I otherwise wouldn’t such as using neurological monitoring like SSEP and EEG, and to think about how different topics may be related such as understanding how cardiovascular health impacts neurological health during surgery.
During some cardiovascular procedures there is a supervising neurologist who analyzes electrical activity in the central nervous system in real time in order to detect stroke and other neurological complications that may occur during the procedure. This is a very interesting area of medicine that I did not know existed prior to joining the lab and it’s also an active area of research and improvement because IntraOperative Neurological Monitoring (IONM) can improve patient post-operative outcomes significantly when it accurately predicts stroke. Furthermore, while stroke is the largest concern for most surgical teams there are also more subtle changes that can have life-altering impacts post-operatively such as limb numbness or losing the ability to smile, which can be identified earlier through the use of IONM in surgery. My first role as a research assistant was largely data entry and analysis, I would read thousands of physicians’ logs from surgeries and then compare the patients' brain activity throughout the surgery to the baseline values collected prior to surgery. I would also characterize any significant change that was identified by the surgeon in their notes. In my lab, I work with international physicians applying for American residencies and supervising UPMC Neurologists, which gives me a valuable library of information to answer my questions. This role provided me with the opportunity to learn about a variety of procedures from a physiological and surgical perspective. Most recently, I have been working with my PI to understand the clinical challenges in the delivery of IONM throughout the country. I have spent the last few months working closely with my PI to construct questions and collect qualitative data from neurologists, surgeons, and anesthesiologists to better understand the shortcomings people experience with using IONM. I have even gotten the chance to observe a few surgeries! This experience has been amazing for me because I am learning an immense amount about neurological monitoring, gaining experience in professional interviewing with physicians, and learning about qualitative data collection. When I was a first year student, research was a recommended extracurricular that I was in no-rush to get involved with. But, after working in my lab for most of my college career I can say it has been one of my favorite activities. It’s never too late to get involved in a lab and try your hand at research. I highly recommend finding a lab investigating something you find interesting (even if it is a topic you aren’t necessarily familiar with or something you don’t view as your future career goal) because you will learn valuable lessons and techniques about science you might not learn in a lecture hall. If you have any questions about getting involved with research or just want to talk about random stuff (maybe enrollment since that’s coming up this week?) feel free to swing by Luke and my office hours on Monday at 2-3 PM!
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