Week 1: Anais

On my first week of the Summer Immersion, I was able to get quickly settled.  On Monday, Carly Skudin and Dr. Kelly Gillen gave us an orientation on what we should expect this summer. Soon after, Pei Wen, Kirtana, and I met with Dr. Fenster to shadow her last case of the day.  I was able to observe a hysteroscopic procedure used to remove a patient’s fibroid.  It was quite interesting to be able to see what the fibroid actually looked like (it was less fleshy than I expected). I also got to see what the endometrial layer of the uterus looked like as well.  Later that day, Pei Wen and I had a meeting with Dr. Fenster and our PI, Dr. Wolf, to discuss some of our plans for the summer. 

As per our discussion, for the rest of the week I focused on reading up on the electrophysiology and neurophysiology of the uterus in order to better help understand the gaps and possibilities of electrically or mechanically  controlling uterus contraction.  On Friday, I was able to shadow Dr.Fenster at the Fibroid Center clinic where she does consultations.  It was enlightening to see how fibroids and other uterine related problems can impact patients day to day life and the frustration patients may feel.  It was great to see how relieved the patients seemed to feel after their consultations.  Additionally, I was able to see various MRI scans of patients with fibroids, which was quite informational as well.