On Friday, Nov. 16 MS1s Kara Kichler, Paris Malensek, Cassidy Baldwin and Steven Cochrun teamed up with MS4 David Osula and Harish Doppalapudi, M.D. to lead a cardiology workshop at George W. Carver High School.
The group visited a career development classroom and presented to about a dozen students. Doppalapudi kicked off the instructional session by explaining his medical role as a cardiologist. He went on to describe the various sub-specialties within cardiology as well as the educational paths that lead to them.
Using an anatomical model of the human heart, Doppalapudi explained the general purpose and functions of the cardiovascular system and expounded on how the blood moves through the heart and the rest of the body. After receiving questions from the students, he explained what takes place during an ablation procedure and what happens when the heart has certain abnormalities.
From there, MS4 David Osula took over leadership of the presentation and with the help of Steven Cochrun, led students through the process of taking a blood pressure reading. The classroom then broke into small groups with each of the medical students taking a leadership role as the high schoolers practiced putting on the blood pressure cuffs, finding pulses, and taking readings for one another.
This presentation was a part of a push to increase mentorship programming at George W. Carver High School. Osula, who has been leading these efforts, is eager to increase the presence of volunteers in the school. "My favorite part of working with these students is seeing them get engaged in their activities and truly enjoying learning," said Osula. I loved being able to see our students’ eyes light up at our Cardiology Workshop as they went from learning about the heart from Dr. Doppalapudi to getting more hands on with the blood pressure measurement interactive session!'
To view more pictures from the cardiology lesson, click here.