Week 8: Seo-Ho/Dr. Fahey

This was the final week of Clinical Immersion, and I'm so grateful for the many opportunities this program brought. This week, I gave my final research presentation on my pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor project. I presented my spatial transcriptomics data analysis for identifying key genes and microenvironmental factors involved in tumorigenesis and metastasis initiation. There was a bit of a learning curve to get the hang of computational analyses, but I'm excited to continue diving into this data, as I will continue this collaboration between my research lab and my clinical mentor beyond Immersion. I'm especially looking forward to working on the wet lab component of the project with organoids and cell lines and continuing to learn the techniques that I began practicing during the summer.

This final week I prioritized the time spent in the clinic and OR to fully engage in this rare opportunity for the last time. I shadowed one of Dr. Spector's surgeries, which was the reconstruction of the right side of a patient's face that had a lot of dead tissue due to a tumor. This surgery was one step of many on the path to fully reconstructing the patient's face, and I watched the surgeons take a thin layer of skin from the thigh and attach it to the face. I also had the chance to shadow part of a liver transplant and mitral valve repair. I watched as the Da Vinci robot and surgical team worked together to finish removing part of the donor's liver. The recipient's surgeon then entered the donor's OR to receive the liver and flush it thoroughly before transporting back to the recipient's OR to begin the process of attaching the donor's liver to the recipient's. In the open heart surgery, I watched the surgeons take the heart off of bypass with the help of defibrillation. I was able to see the heart from the anesthesiologists' side, and it was such an incredible sight seeing the organ beat on its own again. I also shadowed Dr. Fahey's parathyroidectomy and total thyroidectomy surgeries, and I reflected on how familiar I had become with these surgeries over the past 8 weeks.

This program has definitely expanded my knowledge of medical terminology and conditions and provided me with much insight into healthcare and medicine. I came out with a clearer view of communication between providers, providers and patients, and providers and researchers, as well as an understanding of how providers make important healthcare decisions and what kinds of medical tools are highly relied upon. As I transition back into research, I look forward to using what I've learned and the patient perspective to inform my work in the lab and beyond. Thank you to everyone who organized this program for this special opportunity!

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