Music major helps develop pediatric heart frailty scale

Through her experience as a music major, Lilah Weiss ’23 has gained essential skills, such as patience and perseverance, that will aid her journey into the medical field. Weiss was able to find a medical internship at the University of Louisville School of Medicine through her internship supervisor, whom she had previously shadowed. She worked as an intern for a pediatric physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, specifically for those with heart failure. Weiss’s work focused on using case reviews of heart failure patients to develop a heart frailty scale. This scale is used to form a treatment plan for the patient. Weiss knew this position would help solidify her interest in the medical field and provide valuable experience for 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 the frailty scale we are developing. I did a lot of literature reviews of previous studies on frailty scales 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 and making sure I am received the most I could from my experience.” 

What are some skills you’ve learned that you see yourself carrying forward in your career?

“I have learned effective communication skills because a lot of my internship was remote, so communication was extremely important to have a successful experience. I’ve also learned a lot about how medical research is conducted and 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 exactly what goes into this field from a research perspective, so I can know 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.