Week III: Imaging Facility

This week I was able to visit two MRI control rooms: one in the Greenberg Center and the other in the Starr Pavillion. I also got trained about the MRI safety issues. Thanks to Dr. Ajay Gupta, my clinical mentor, I was introduced to the technical team in MRI control room. I cannot wait to start spending my time in the control room next week!

As my clinical mentor has very close collaboration with Dr. Yi Wang, I decide to visit Dr. Wang's lab next week. I expect to gain more substantial understanding about my research project next week. My project will be on the topic of diagnosing multiple sclerosis (MS) using MRI. MS is a disease that develops lesions on the white matter of the brain and spinal cord.  It was more common in female than male under 50. Of course, I will have to read a lot more about the disease pathology and diagnosis. I am very excited I could learn so much more medicine and MRI knowledge, which are new to me, during this summer.

On the clinical side, I observed a pediatric neurological surgery done by Dr. Mark M. Souweidane. This one was very different from the endoscopic brain surgery I saw last week: no real-time imaging facility was used, so we had to stand closer to the cranial site. The patient is a kid and has to suffer the pain of surgery multiple times before the brain is fully grown. It was heartbreaking to see such a young patient lying in the OR. The main challenging engineering issue out there that keeps the patient in repeated surgeries is that the material of the bone inserted in the skull does not grow. I hope that one-day material scientists and engineers can develop a more compatible and adaptive material for the bone used for treating such patients. Besides the observation, I attended two lectures given to residents and medical students. One is the case study of nucs; another is imaging of fractures using MRI.

By the end of the course for medical students, I have to say bye to those rotation medical students here because this is their last week in NYPH. I wish them success in applying for residency and passing their exams. The sincerity and warmth of the medical students leave me a great impression, and I feel enjoyable talking to them.  I now have some ideas on why people are so into medical school---it has its unique sense of friendliness and belonging.