Health Science Center students Brandi West (left) and Danielle Mitchell pause while doing their holiday shopping at the Christmas markets in Gamla Stan, the original city of Stockholm, Sweden.
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By Rosanne Fohn

Seeing a real reindeer and celebrating the traditional St. Lucia Day festivities Dec. 13 in Stockholm brought a new perspective to the holiday season for two clinical laboratory sciences (CLS) students from the UT Health Science Center San Antonio.

The School of Health Professions students spent nearly four months at the Karolinska Institutet, one of the leading medical universities in the world. The institutet has the honor and responsibility each year of selecting the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Meanwhile, two Swedish students from Karolinska left South Texas Dec. 10 with cowboy hats and boots, and a photo memory book chronicling their 10-week adventure as exchange students at the Health Science Center’s campuses in San Antonio and Laredo.

Only CLS program nationally with Karolinska exchange program
The four students were the first selected to participate in a new student exchange program. The Health Science Center’s CLS department is the only medical laboratory sciences program in the U.S. with a student exchange agreement with Karolinska.

The two universities initiated their exchange program after CLS Professor and Chair Linda Smith, Ph.D., MLS, and her predecessor, Shirlyn McKenzie, Ph.D., MLS, met Dr. Michel Silvestri, director of the biomedical laboratory science program at Karolinska, at a professional meeting two years ago and agreed to explore the possibility of the exchange program.

“Karolinska is an impressive school,” Dr. Smith said. “They just celebrated the 200th anniversary of their founding in 2010 and we thought this would be a wonderful opportunity for our students.”

Health Science Center students learn more about research
Visiting with faculty upon their return in mid-December, Health Science Center seniors Brandi West and Danielle Mitchell touched on cultural highlights they experienced, including a visit to the Vasa Museum, where they saw an intricately carved and beautifully restored 17th century Nordic sailing ship that, like the Titanic, sank on its maiden voyage. They shopped for Christmas gifts in Gamla Stan, the cobblestone-paved original city of Stockholm. And they fashioned snowmen from the deep frozen precipitation that stayed on the ground for days.

The students also discussed their demanding rotations in bacteriology, virology, pharmacology and chemistry that required many written and oral reports and exams. “Our experience was much more about watching and observing in clinical rotations than the program here at the Health Science Center,” West said. “They were hesitant at first to let us do anything and wanted us to read the textbook and manuals. But once they saw that we were competent in the lab they allowed us to do a lot more. They were surprised that we knew as much as we did. We have some great professors at the Health Science Center.”

One of the reasons for the exams and oral reports is that Karolinska’s program emphasizes research as well as clinical work. “There, research is more integrated into the hospitals.” Dr. Smith explained.

(From left) Swedish exchange student Linda Bastas, Clinical Laboratory Sciences Professor and Chair Linda Smith, Ph.D., School of Health Professions Interim Dean Douglas Murphy, Ph.D., and Swedish student Lina Barbunopulos enjoy a welcome reception at Dr. Smith’s home.

Swedish students have more clinical opportunities
Meanwhile, their Swedish counterparts, Linda Bastas and Lina Barbunopulos, experienced Texas hospitality and the Tex-Mex culture.

After participating in a two-week course offered through the South Texas Environmental Education and Research (STEER) program at the Regional Campus in Laredo, they returned to San Antonio for eight weeks of CLS rotations in microbiology, hematology and immunology.

Their cultural experiences included visits to a Texas dancehall, the state capitol building and Sixth Street in Austin, the Corpus Christi beach and a Spurs game. They also celebrated an American Thanksgiving at the home of Interim Dean Douglas Murphy, Ph.D., with his family and friends.

“The people here are very friendly and they have taken such good care of us,” Bastas said. They enjoyed the opportunity to do more lab work than they had done at Karolinska and were impressed that they could observe an autopsy and several surgeries. “We would never have been able to see an autopsy in Sweden. There would be too much paperwork,” Bastas added.

STEER program offers unique environmental lessons
They also enjoyed the STEER program that focuses on environmental factors that can affect the health of individuals and populations. “It was really cool,” Bastas said. “We did some water and soil sampling. We also went to a ranch and into the field with an herbalist.”

However, Barbunopulos said that they were sad to see the poverty in the colonias near Laredo, where they learned about a family’s struggle to obtain adequate health care. “We have some homeless people in Sweden, especially in the big cities, but not like this,” Bastas added.

Overall, the Swedish visitors enjoyed their stay and the opportunity to improve their English language skills. “I’ve learned a lot about myself and how I handle things in different situations. I am now more confident about clinical laboratory science,” Bastas said.

Regarding the Health Science Center students, Mitchell said, “We met some really nice people in the labs who went out of the way to make us feel at home. Now, I’m excited to start our practicums here in the U.S. so we can compare them to our experience in Sweden.”

How to apply for the exchange program
The deadline to apply for the next exchange experience will be late spring. For more information, contact Dr. Smith at 210-567-8860.