Samantha Parker: Finding Her Focus Group

by Gwen Cullen

This summer I returned to the Weill Cornell Medical College Division of Geriatrics after my first year of medical school at Tulane. Before attending Tulane, I worked as a research assistant in the division on studies about arthritis, pain management, and community-based research. I am very fortunate to be back at Cornell this summer working with Dr. Cary Reid, and it has been wonderful to be back catching up with everyone here. For my research project, I am investigating a new topic related to my prior work. I am exploring the world of mobile health technologies and their potential use…

READ MORE

Francis Felice: Arterial Details

by AFAR

After a week of trying different techniques to make our protocol work, I finally collected some usable data today. For my project, I'm using a doppler probe to monitor blood flow in the radial artery; this is a technique that has been successfully applied to mouse models with the equipment I am using, but the technique has been untested in humans, so my mentor and I were becoming skeptical when we weren't getting analyzable results. However, with some trial and error, as well as some irritated skin from having to push the probe pretty deep into my arm…

READ MORE

Elisha Fredman: Dealing With Data

by AFAR

This is Elisha Fredman's second entry. Read her first MSTAR Diary to learn how she began her MSTAR experience. Viewing some of my tissue samples under fluorescent light, it looks like there may be a detectable difference between my experimental and control groups, which is rewarding to see. It is especially exciting because, as this is a bench research project and not a clinical study, just treating the samples and then preparing them to be viewed has taken a number of weeks. After all of that work, it feels good to have a positive outcome. At the same time,…

READ MORE

Sheila Rustgi: Working with Patients & Teachers

by AFAR

Today was a busy day for the MSTAR students at Mt. Sinai. In addition to time dedicated to our research projects, the nine of us come together weekly for a research seminar and didactic sessions as well as to practice our clinical skills in Mt. Sinai’s Geriatric Outpatient clinic, the Martha Stewart Center for Living. Having only recently learned history taking and physical exam skills, I am excited about the opportunity to keep practicing over the summer. First we heard from Dr. Helen Fernandez, a geriatrician who also runs the Geriatrics Fellowship program at Mt. Sinai, about how…

READ MORE

Sean Wo: Filling in the Gaps

by AFAR

This is Sean Wo's second entry. Read his first MSTAR Diary to learn how he began his MSTAR experience. This Tuesday was a particularly long one because of the weekly noontime meeting. Every week, I meet with a group of other students doing summer research in geriatrics or gerontology. This gives us an opportunity to present our work and receive feedback on our project designs as well as presentation skills that’ll be useful at a poster conference. Each of these sessions is hosted by Drs. Stephanie Studenski and CF Reynolds III, esteemed geriatricians at Pitt Med. Before…

READ MORE