THE ONE WHERE THE BRAINSTORMING BEGINS

During the week of January 29 to February 4, the main accomplishments in the second year of the Independent Study and Mentorship program includes the analysis of my fourth mentor visit of the year as well as beginning to brainstorm for ambitious yet feasible final product ideas.

My fourth mentor visit with Dr. Brinkman included another operating room observation, where I was able to watch a Ross Procedure. Through this procedure, it was fascinating to see how a part of the patient can be used to fix a different aspect of the heart. I was also able to see a high stress procedure and doctor interaction amongst the different types of procedures that doctors perform.

Along with writing my fourth mentor visit assessment, I have finally begun to brainstorm ideas for my final product. Some of the ideas that I have come up with include: getting involved in esophageal or lung cancer research, postoperative issues that occur after thoracic procedures, analyze leaflet configurations around the heart, create a box that can hold a beating heart for a longer transportation time for heart transplants, analyze the relationship between dietary actions and reducing the risk of getting atrial septal defects in the heart, coming up with an alternative way of performing an AVR or MVR with minimally invasive techniques, and finally, using a different vein in the body for the CABG procedure with the same functions. By choosing one of these to execute, I definitely hope to create an distinguished and higher-level thinking project to showcase my learning of cardiothoracic surgery over the past two years.