Written by Tyra Smith, BS candidate, DePaul University, and participant in the 2024
Institute for Public Health Summer Research Program
Coming into Washington University’s Summer Research Program in Aging and Neurological Diseases I had no experience with clinical research or clinical care. I got my first experiences with these during the first half of the summer program; during which I attended many fascinating lectures, engaged in my assigned lab’s research, and explored the various opportunities others in my lab extended to me. I’ve had the pleasure of working in the Foster Lab under my principal investigator Erin Foster, PhD, associate professor of Occupational Therapy, Neurology, and Psychiatry. In this lab, the primary disease of interest is Parkinson’s Disease, of which I had little knowledge. Associate Professor Foster first gave me several articles to help create a foundation of knowledge about the disease and the various projects in her lab. Once I found a project that I was interested in, the associate professor then introduced me to the lab members who worked closely on that specific study. All the people I’ve met in the lab have been very knowledgeable about all the research processes I’ve had questions about, and they have been very supportive and kind.
Outside of the lab, I’ve had the pleasure of attending several lectures hosted by the program. While I enjoyed all of the topics and lectures, the most enjoyable lectures were the ones that had topics aligning with the topics in my lab. Robert Heuermann, MD, PhD, instructor in the Neurology Division of Movement Disorders, gave a very detailed lecture on the pathology of Parkinson’s disease and the current therapeutics available. It was helpful to learn about the specific pathology of the disease in this lecture, while simultaneously learning about how this pathology affects people with the disease in the Foster Lab.
This lecture also provided good background information for a shadowing opportunity I found through my lab. When I had the chance to watch Daniel Di Luca, MD, MSc, assistant professor, Neurology Division of Movement Disorders, perform his clinical assessments of people with Parkinson’s Disease, I could recall the different behaviors and related therapies mentioned by Instructor Heuermann. So far, both the lab and lecture portion of this program have given me the start in clinical research and care that I was looking for, and I greatly look forward to the second half of the program.