Teaching high school students about radiology in southeast Michigan
Author: Rameesha Shaheen, B.S., Medical Student at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine
I was fortunate to work on a community outreach program this past month that places medical students as teachers in Metro Detroit high schools. One biology class was taught at the AP level, and the other two were in the standard biology curriculum. My presentation topic was Huntington's Disease, and because of my specialty interest in diagnostic radiology, my lecture primarily revolved around its neuroanatomy and radiology.
Photo of Student Doctor Rameesha Shaheen with her presentation about Huntington’s Disease
In a pre-survey administered to the high school students, we asked about any prior medical knowledge they have and their future plans to attend college or pursue medicine.
Then, the 45-minute clinical case didactic and interactive session followed. Here, I discussed the symptomatology of Huntington's Disease, the basic structure of neurons, and typical MRI imaging planes. The high school students had a chance to predict which MRI scans were normal or pathological based on what they learned about ventricles and basal ganglia degeneration. All three classes at both high schools had a 100% pass rate!
Photo of medical student Rameesha Shaheen presenting about Huntington’s Disease
Slide from Rameesha’s presentation
After the presentation, we administered a post-survey with questions similar to the one before class. We plan to analyze this data to learn how to increase young interest in the world of medicine and continue these educational sessions for students.
It was an honor to be these students’ first exposure to radiology and medicine. I am very eager to take part in more projects like this in the future!
Rameesha Shaheen is a medical student at the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. She attended Wayne State University for both her undergraduate and graduate education and currently works as a research assistant at Henry Ford Health. She is passionate about improving the health of the Detroit community and hopes to continue her educational endeavors in diagnostic radiology in the place she calls home.