Month: December 2019

2019 – Year of Progress

I think after fall semester, I realized that I would need to focus a little more on my schoolwork especially when it comes to chemistry. That is my Achille’s heel. I ended up joining OSU’s fencing club and I really love the people there! I actually got to go on my first tournaments at OU for their spring open. I eventually lost of one of my teammates when it came down to elimination but I still had a good time. After the semester in the club I became the secretary for the club, in that role I began outreaching to other schools in Ohio to begin conversation between school clubs. I also stayed in Columbus over the summer to take a few classes and continued to work in my research lab. My grades in chemistry were still not what I wanted them to be but I did enjoy the club activities for the year!

I did get to go back and visit my grandparents in China, it has been years since I have visited and honestly a lot has changed in my hometown. My parents and I did not stay too long at my grandparents as we went to Hai Nan for a short vacation. I really enjoyed winter break and it will be a while before I get another chance to visit.

 

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center – Student Research Assistant

I started in Dr. Lynne Gauthier’s Neuro-recovery lab fall semester of 2018 as a student research assistant. The team I joined worked on the computerized therapy for rehabilitation of upper extremities for patients after stoke. As the project title suggest, the research primarily focused testing the effectiveness of a video game model for patient rehabilitation. As a new addition to the lab, I focused on learning the background of the project and any necessary skills I will need for the lab. A major tool that I had to master was learning to to code in MATLAB as that is where all the data was analyzed.

As time went on, I slowly transitioned into an active role in participant screening and follow up testing allowing me to work with participants directly. Through the screening process, I get to test participants to gather their baseline level. If their level is within the project’s acceptable constraints, the participants will be enrolled. After the participants complete the therapy, I schedule and complete the initial follow-up and then another follow-up in 6 months.

Through this experience, I learned the ins and outs of a clinical trial and learn that my passion lies on working with people directly. In my role, I got to explore all aspects of research from following participants from start to finish, assist in paper writing, analyzing data, and communicate with patients to work through technological issues they experience at home with the treatment. It was an amazing experience and I learned greatly from this project.

Link to published paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101239