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Summer training programs enhance career goals of Brandon students
By By Alica P. Thiele
Challenger reporter
Challenger reporter
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EmailAugust 12. 2009 6:00AM
Two Brandon students have furthered their medical careers this summer by taking summer training.
Quinn Watt sutured bananas at the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine in Chicago. The 10-day program provided opportunities to see surgeries live, to discuss current standards in medicine and to get a first-hand look at what it takes to advance through medical school and a residency.
Jordan Anderson-Daniels spent two months in Boston doing tests that might end up helping medical professionals know more about how blood platelets work. "Platelets are what makes our blood clot when we have an injury," Anderson-Daniels said. "They're important for many other things, but that's their main job."
Both students praised their summer opportunities for helping further their career goals.
Anderson-Daniels, a senior at Augustana College, is applying to medical school now. He wants to practice medicine and do research. One of his professors, Mark Larson, thinks he is well suited for it.
"He was capable and independent," Larson said. "He has really good hands at the research bench. I was really impressed with how well he did. He could have a pretty promising research career."
Larson referred to the delicate dissection work Anderson-Daniels had to do. In one experiment, he had to remove livers from mouse fetuses. "They're visible with the naked eye," Anderson-Daniels said of the tiny organs. "They're a little bigger than a pinhead. Then we cultured these cells."
In another experiment, he removed bone marrow from mouse leg bones "and basically did the same culture process with those cells," he said. Another Augustana student, Matthew Braithwaite, also worked on the project. Their involvement was paid for through a National Institute of Health research grant South Dakota received.
The trio was excited about the results of the research. "We did find out some interesting things," Anderson-Daniels said. "We found evidence that certain proteins promote platelet release and formation. This was a pretty novel finding that no one has published about before."
Larson said their time ran out before they could finish analyzing their findings, so another group in Boston will do that and prepare a paper on the findings. Larson said he will write a paper also.
"There's a good chance by the end of the school year that (Anderson-Daniels) will be part of two papers that will be submitted for publication," Larson said.
Quinn Watt is a senior at Brandon Valley High School. She was one of 400 students from across the country to attend the forum in Chicago July 19 through 28 and spent most of her time with the 20 students assigned to her med group.
Each days' activities revolved around a theme. One day it was public health, for example. Another, it was residencies, and one day, surgery. That is Watt's special interest, for she one day hopes to be a surgeon.
She got practice stitching up wounds in the form of a banana. But she got to view live surgeries as well. During one, students watched a knee replacement live via closed circuit TV and got to ask the surgeon questions as he worked.
She also got to watch a bunion surgery live. "We wore hair nets, masks and a big white 'bunny suit,'" she said. She was standing only a few feet from the patient's foot and was startled when the patient spoke. She didn't realize the patient was only under local anesthetic.
One day, she was on a panel that debated such controversial topics as animal testing, universal healthcare and choosing a baby's gender. Another day, she participated in a disaster simulation. The scenario was that a bomb had gone off in a mall. "We went in and it was mass chaos," she said of the mock scene. She and others had to do triage, tagging the injured with color coded labels that indicated if the person was dead, almost dead or needed medical care urgently.
The 10 days included many speakers. The most emotional were part of an organ donor panel, Watt said. "One was a man who had cystic fibrosis who got new lungs," she said. "Everybody was crying."
Watt's mother, Marianne, thinks the forum was a great opportunity for her daughter to get a taste of what it's like to be in medicine. She learned of the program through a friend in Sioux Falls, whose daughter had gone. To participate, a student must be nominated. Marianne e-mailed BVHS principal Gregg Talcott, asking for help with the nomination. She doesn't know if he nominated her daughter or if someone else did, but a couple weeks later, Quinn got an invitation in the mail.
Marianne Watt said after looking through the forum's literature, she felt very comfortable sending her daughter there. "It was all very organized," she said.
Quinn said her med group became very close during their 10 days together. She's kept in touch with many of them.
"We're planning a reunion," she said.
Quinn Watt sutured bananas at the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine in Chicago. The 10-day program provided opportunities to see surgeries live, to discuss current standards in medicine and to get a first-hand look at what it takes to advance through medical school and a residency.
Jordan Anderson-Daniels spent two months in Boston doing tests that might end up helping medical professionals know more about how blood platelets work. "Platelets are what makes our blood clot when we have an injury," Anderson-Daniels said. "They're important for many other things, but that's their main job."
Both students praised their summer opportunities for helping further their career goals.
Anderson-Daniels, a senior at Augustana College, is applying to medical school now. He wants to practice medicine and do research. One of his professors, Mark Larson, thinks he is well suited for it.
"He was capable and independent," Larson said. "He has really good hands at the research bench. I was really impressed with how well he did. He could have a pretty promising research career."
Larson referred to the delicate dissection work Anderson-Daniels had to do. In one experiment, he had to remove livers from mouse fetuses. "They're visible with the naked eye," Anderson-Daniels said of the tiny organs. "They're a little bigger than a pinhead. Then we cultured these cells."
In another experiment, he removed bone marrow from mouse leg bones "and basically did the same culture process with those cells," he said. Another Augustana student, Matthew Braithwaite, also worked on the project. Their involvement was paid for through a National Institute of Health research grant South Dakota received.
The trio was excited about the results of the research. "We did find out some interesting things," Anderson-Daniels said. "We found evidence that certain proteins promote platelet release and formation. This was a pretty novel finding that no one has published about before."
Larson said their time ran out before they could finish analyzing their findings, so another group in Boston will do that and prepare a paper on the findings. Larson said he will write a paper also.
"There's a good chance by the end of the school year that (Anderson-Daniels) will be part of two papers that will be submitted for publication," Larson said.
Quinn Watt is a senior at Brandon Valley High School. She was one of 400 students from across the country to attend the forum in Chicago July 19 through 28 and spent most of her time with the 20 students assigned to her med group.
Each days' activities revolved around a theme. One day it was public health, for example. Another, it was residencies, and one day, surgery. That is Watt's special interest, for she one day hopes to be a surgeon.
She got practice stitching up wounds in the form of a banana. But she got to view live surgeries as well. During one, students watched a knee replacement live via closed circuit TV and got to ask the surgeon questions as he worked.
She also got to watch a bunion surgery live. "We wore hair nets, masks and a big white 'bunny suit,'" she said. She was standing only a few feet from the patient's foot and was startled when the patient spoke. She didn't realize the patient was only under local anesthetic.
One day, she was on a panel that debated such controversial topics as animal testing, universal healthcare and choosing a baby's gender. Another day, she participated in a disaster simulation. The scenario was that a bomb had gone off in a mall. "We went in and it was mass chaos," she said of the mock scene. She and others had to do triage, tagging the injured with color coded labels that indicated if the person was dead, almost dead or needed medical care urgently.
The 10 days included many speakers. The most emotional were part of an organ donor panel, Watt said. "One was a man who had cystic fibrosis who got new lungs," she said. "Everybody was crying."
Watt's mother, Marianne, thinks the forum was a great opportunity for her daughter to get a taste of what it's like to be in medicine. She learned of the program through a friend in Sioux Falls, whose daughter had gone. To participate, a student must be nominated. Marianne e-mailed BVHS principal Gregg Talcott, asking for help with the nomination. She doesn't know if he nominated her daughter or if someone else did, but a couple weeks later, Quinn got an invitation in the mail.
Marianne Watt said after looking through the forum's literature, she felt very comfortable sending her daughter there. "It was all very organized," she said.
Quinn said her med group became very close during their 10 days together. She's kept in touch with many of them.
"We're planning a reunion," she said.
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Summer learning experiences Quinn Watt of Brandon (left) and Rachel Cross of Vermont show off the bananas they stitched up at a National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine. The girls were among 400 who attended the forum in Chicago in July. Submitted photo |  |
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