THE ONE WITH THE FIRST INTERVIEW

During the week of September 25 to October 1, the main highlights included peer resume evaluations, learning about mitral valve repair surgery, and completing my first informational interview of the year.

This week was very successful in many ways. Through the peer evaluations of our resumes, the students were able to make adjustments and learn how to give a professional summary of themselves to prospective job interviews. Also, the evaluations helped prepare the students for business symposium, which is one of the main fall semester events in the Independent Study and Mentorship program.

Along with the resume, I was able to research mitral valve repair surgery, which helped further my goal of gaining perspective on cardiothoracic conditions of various sections in the heart. By researching this surgical procedure, I was able to gain medical knowledge on the symptoms and surgical techniques of this case and made me realize the similarity in other procedures that I have either researched or observed.

The biggest accomplishment that occurred this week was my first informational interview with Dr. Matthias Peltz, a cardiothoracic surgeon at UT Southwestern Medical Center who specializes in heart transplants. Through him, I was able to learn about new technological ventricular assist devices and about corpus inversus, a medical condition with the reverse anatomical position of every organ inside the body.

One of the continuing struggles that I have been facing is contacting and getting replies from professionals for interviews, which is something that I would like to work on for the future. Also, in the upcoming weeks I am going to continue scheduling and observing surgical procedures with Dr Brinkman.