(Left to right) Brandi Garza and Irene Chapa, Ph.D., from the Office of Recruitment & Science Outreach, and Griselda Rubio, coordinator of the Med Ed Program at the Laredo Campus Extension, pose with a “mad scientist” welcoming high school students to “Freaky Friday.”
Printer Friendly Format

Seventy students from Lyndon B. Johnson, Hebbronville and Bruni high schools in the Laredo area learned about the human body and the health professions in a Halloween-themed event Oct. 31 at the Laredo Campus Extension of the UT Health Science Center San Antonio.

After being welcomed by a classroom model of a skeleton dressed as a mad scientist, the students attended three hands-on presentations, two of them employing preserved or plastinated specimens Health Science Center students use to learn about the human body.

The “Freaky Friday” program was sponsored by the Health Science Center’s Med Ed Program, which provides encouragement and support for middle school, high school and undergraduate college students in South Texas who are interested in the health professions. The program was offered in collaboration with the Health Science Center's Office of Recruitment and Science Research (ORSO).

Learning about internal organs
The high school students learned about various organs and their functions by viewing a heart, liver and other organs preserved in plastic that they could examine up close in a presentation led by Irene Chapa, Ph.D., a Laredo native, and coordinator of the Health Science Center’s ORSO.

Science of the brain
Brandi Garza, also associated with the ORSO, gave a presentation on the human brain using two specimens preserved in formaldehyde that the students could hold. They learned about the parts of the brain, brain development and factors that can affect its development.

Surgeons in training
The students also learned how to sew up wounds using suturing needles and a simulation practice arm with various cuts the students tried to repair. This session was led by first-year physician assistant studies students from the Laredo Campus Extension.

Enrichment for rural campuses
“This is marvelous!” said Gloria Ramón, a counselor at Bruni High School. “This really gives the students a good idea of what to expect in the medical fields. It’s really like a hands-on anatomy class,” she said, noting that students in rural school districts often do not have access to these types of activities.

Antonio A. Arredondo, who teaches biology and a physiology and anatomy class at Hebbronville High School, said, “This is a very interesting experience for our students. The kids are really enjoying it. They’ve been asking a lot of questions. Hopefully this will help get them interested in this field.”

That is precisely the point of the Med Ed Program, said Laredo Med Ed Coordinator Griselda Rubio. “We designed this to be a fun and educational morning, but we also wanted students to see what is involved in being a scientist, doctor, nurse, dentist or physician assistant. South Texas has been designated as a medically underserved area, which means we need many more health professionals to meet the needs of this population.”

More about the Med Ed Program
The Med Ed Program is free and offers participants year-round academic enrichment, community service opportunities, volunteer programs at area health care facilities and field trips to the Laredo Campus Extension and the Health Science Center campuses in San Antonio to learn more about how to prepare for an education and career in the health professions. For more information about the Med Ed Program visit www.uthscsa.edu/meded.

# # #
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $576 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $15.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $35 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 23,000 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and allied health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, allied health, dentistry and many other fields. For more information, visit www.uthscsa.edu.