Music major helps develop pediatric heart frailty scale
Through her experience as a music major, Lilah Weiss ’23 has gainedessentialskills, such as patience and perseverance, that will aidher journey into the medical field.Weisswas able to find amedical internshipat the University of Louisville School of Medicine through herinternship supervisor, whom she had previously shadowed.Sheworked asan intern for a pediatric physicianspecializingin physical medicine and rehabilitation, specifically for those with heart failure.Weiss’sworkfocused on using case reviews of heart failure patients to develop a heart frailty scale. This scaleisusedto forma treatment plan for the patient.Weissknew this position wouldhelp solidify her interest inthe medicalfieldand provide valuable experiencefor a future career, making it a great fit for an APEX Fellowship opportunity.
“This internship has helped me validate my interest in pursuing medicine in the future [and] I was able to experience exactly what goes into this field from a research perspective.” – Lilah Weiss ’23
What interests you most about the work you did? What were some of the things you did each day?
“The work I did interests me because I am conducting research that directly helps improve the quality of life for pediatric heart failure patients using thefrailtyscale we are developing. I did a lot of literaturereviewsofpreviousstudies onfrailtyscales and heart failure. I also created and used a data collection sheet to organize and analyze data of multiple pediatric heart failure patients.”
How did your fellowship mentor help you to succeed in this position?
“My fellowship mentor helped me succeed in this position by helping me keep an open mind about what I will gain from my internship andmakingsure I amreceivedthe mostI could frommy experience.”
What are some skills you’ve learned that you see yourself carrying forward in your career?
“I have learnedeffective communicationskills because a lot of my internship wasremote,so communication was extremely important to have a successful experience.I’vealso learned a lot about how medical researchis conductedand how much goes into one study. I will use these skills when I am in medical school and when I am a physician to be able to properly conduct a study.”
How has the internship helped to see what’s next for you?
“This internship has helped me validate my interest in pursuing medicine in the future, specifically pediatric physical medicine and rehabilitation. I was able to experience exactlywhatgoes into this field from a researchperspective,so Icanknow for sure if that is what I want to do in the future and what to expect when I eventually pursue it.”
Posted in Experiential Learning on October 15, 2021.
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Related Areas of Study
Music
Earn a bachelor of arts in music or a bachelor of music in either music performance or music composition
Major Minor