Spring 2013 URSP participant Yousef Fazel:
Before taking part in my research I had
several past experiences. I first took part in bioinformatics research, but I
realized that my programing skills were sub par and the project was very slow
progress as a result. I continued with bench lab research and I didn’t enjoy
that much either. My passion has always been being in the hospital and being
near patient care. Last year I finally started doing clinical research at the
Inova neuroscience research office.
This research experience is very
well suited for me considering my long term goals. As a prospective medical
student I have an early start with clinical research. I learn more about the
human physiology through my research, but I also learn a lot by being around
other students who also have interesting projects. The lab provides a very
academic environment that promotes learning. In the future these observations
we make in the lab will give me an edge over other physicians.
On a weekly basis the project
differs. The first step is do design the project and submit it for approval
from the IRB. This part is actually very difficult because the IRB requires the
researcher to know a great deal about the project before starting. After
obtaining IRB approval, I begin data collection from the patient charts. My project
is a retrospective study and I collect data from the Hospitals electronic
medical records. After obtaining all the necessary data I begin doing
statistical analysis on the data.
Each week something new is learned.
For example this week I was finally able to observe how a stroke patient with
hemiparesis preforms a simple task as clapping as the patient’s ability to
preform the Eastchester clapping sign was assessed. The learning process with
this research experience has been very rewarding.
