'Pre-med'-itated Future
	By Sayyeda Tooba Hasan '09

Medicine is one of the most challenging and intimidating professional choices in today’s world. The rigorous academic curriculum and the stressful work environment of the medical profession go hand-in-hand to “spook” students away from medicine. And while it’s true that medicine is a demanding profession, it isn’t necessarily a scary one once you get a closer look. That is where medical internships play a critical part in the academic curriculum of a pre-med student. And I was fortunate enough to have such an internship, supported by the W.G. and Lela Budwine Scholarship and an Earl and Lovey Beard Scholarship.

I am a senior pre-med chemistry major at TLU, and even though I’ve always been intrigued and fascinated by the medical profession, I was also somewhat intimidated by it. That was until I spent eight weeks as an intern in the cardiology department at Kelsey-Seybold Clinic in the Texas Medical Center of Houston. I got to experience the hospital environment first hand as I worked for one of the best cardiologist in Texas, Dr. Ali Mortazavi, chief of cardiology.

The clinic had eight cardiologists and was open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. During my internship I worked for different departments in the clinic each week, giving me exposure to every aspect of medicine.

During the first two weeks at Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, I was assigned to the cardiology laboratory where electrocardiograms, echocardiograms and stress tests are conducted for patients when prescribed by the doctors at the clinic.

Tooba Hasan, senior pre-med chemistry major, writes about her internship at the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic in Houston last summer.

An electrocardiogram (EKG) traces the electrical activity of a patient’s heart on a piece of special graph paper and is used to detect any problems with the electrical impulses within the heart. I also learned how to interpret an electrocardiogram and recognize some of the abnormal EKG’s for conditions like ventricular tachycardia and arterial flutter. An echocardiogram (ECHO), on the other hand, helps us see a “picture” of the heart using the ultrasound waves that are reflected off of the cardiac muscle. This is useful in detecting any physical damage to the heart, such as blockage. During a stress test, the patient performs some sort of physical exercise, usually on a treadmill, and the heart beats per minutes are monitored along with an EKG at different stages during the test. The other kind of test is the nuclear stress test, where the patient is injected with a radioactive isotope before the test and another time during the test once they reach a desired heart rate. After being injected, pictures are taken of their heart by a high power camera used to detect the radioactive isotope in the patient’s blood. And since the heart pumps all the blood in our body, it allows for us to take pictures of a “glowing” heart. The pictures of a patient’s heart at rest are compared with pictures after the test to detect anything that might not have been visible during a normal stress test. And lastly, for those that were unable to perform physical exercise due to medical reasons, the persantine nuclear tests were administered where a vasodilator, persantine, is injected into the patient to substitute for the exercise followed by an injection of a radioactive isotope at the desired heart rate.

From the third week of the internship until the end, I was assigned to Dr. Mortazavi and the nurses’ station where he conducted office visits, consultations, and follow-ups with his patients. I was able to observe his nurses while they prepared the patients for their visit with Dr. Mortazavi and recorded their vital signs and medicines. I also got a chance to interact with patients during incoming phone calls and visits.

When Dr. Mortazavi was not in his office, he was at the catheterization laboratory at St. Luke’s Hospital. It was there that he performed diagnostic angiograms and interventional procedures on patients who had indicated a blockage during the EKG, ECHO or one of the stress tests. On numerous occasions I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to shadow him during his visit to the hospital. Not only did I get to observe the procedure, but I was also given a chance to shadow Dr. Mortazavi while he conducted his regular rounds at the hospital, watching him interact with the patients.

Along with the clinical aspect of my internship with Dr. Mortazavi, I researched and wrote a paper on a topic in cardiology. Once completed, the research paper will be published in a scientific journal, and I will present my research at the national Frontiers of Cardiology Conference in Colorado.

My research paper and presentation will prove to be a pivotal asset as I apply to medical schools. Not only that, the cardiology conference should provide me with a valuable chance to interact with a lot of important and knowledgeable people in the field of medicine and enable me to start building my contact base.

To summarize my experience at the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, I would say that it provided me with the exposure to the medical field I need in order to be comfortable with my decision to pursue a career in medicine. While I’m still anxious about some aspects of the medical profession, I’m extremely excited about my career choice, and I am grateful to be able to have such an extraordinary opportunity through the science departments at Texas Lutheran University.


About the Author:
Sayyeda Tooba Hasan is a senior pre-med chemistry major – now. At first, she says she just didn’t like chemistry – that is until she met TLU professors Dr. Dave Wasmund and Dr. John McClusky. Then everything just fell into place. “It all clicked,” she said. Now she is taking four chemistry classes, including Dr. McClusky’s Intermediate Organic Chemistry, plus a course each in biology and physics while applying to medical school, preparing a presentation for the Frontiers of Cardiology Conference, and serving as a TLU Ambassador. Tooba is from Houston, where her family has lived since they moved from Pakistan in 2002.