Hi, my name is Darsh Tripathi and I am a VP communications for SIMS. I am majoring in honors in biological sciences and entering my third year. I was also quite busy this summer studying for the taxing endeavor that the MCAT presents. One of things that most excited me about attending the University of Calgary was its reputation as a research university. I was very curious on how exactly I would be able to get involved. To be quite honest, I was a little scared due to the competitive nature. I quickly reached out to senior students and started asking them for guidance. They started giving me a plethora of advice, such as “Email 200 profs at once!!” “Mass Email!!!” and it intimidated me. I quickly updated my resume and started reading professors’ research interests and what they do in the lab. I quickly realized that I was not interested in some of the research topics and I did not want to spend so much time doing something that does not interest me.
I started emailing professors whose research I was interested in, and ended up contacting three profs, two of which responded. They both said they did not take second year students into their labs due to the level and severity of the research. I was not let down from this and kept reading more profs’ bios. I came upon this website where doctors who were also clinical professors at the Cumming school of Medicine who displayed their research. I found a doctor whose research enticed me and I sent him an email. And he got back to me! He said he was indeed willing to take me into his research project, and I was very excited by this possibility. In addition, he was a clinical professor in the department of paediatrics, which just so happens to be what I want to pursue in the future.
Upon meeting the professor, we discussed multiple research projects regarding the field of neonatology which involved working with a lot of premature babies.
"Initially we had discussed a project centered on the intubation and extubation rate in premature babies, as there is no concrete method/criteria of determining when to take out the breathing tube hence to extubate, and as a result doctors are required to extubate solely based on their judgement which results in high mortality rate amongst them."
We had discussed collaborating with Wayne State University in the US and working on a formula that takes into account gestational age, extubation day of life, pre-extubation % oxygen, highest respiratory severity score, weight at extubation, and pre-extubation blood gas pH. However, due to escalating circumstances of the pandemic in the States, the research topic was halted and we had not talked about anything else as we adjusted to the COVID circumstances.
I reached out to the doctor after several months asking if there is anything else I can get involved in and he responded back with another QI research project. This project required me to collect data from clinical health systems regarding laryngeal mask airway versus endotracheal intubation during positive pressure ventilation in premature babies. I am currently working in his office gathering data and will be writing a manuscript along with fellow doctors in the department of neonatology. I have also been given the opportunity to present the findings at a conference later this year.
To be presented with an opportunity to work with a doctor, especially one who is very knowledgeable in the field that I want to one day pursue, and to be able to work alongside him and ask questions is beyond gratifying and truly a humbling experience. I am looking forward to being involved in more research projects in the future!
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