Gadha Mohan

Mrs. Kahlich

ISM 5B

November 29th, 2018

Final Presentation Speech

Good Afternoon everyone! I would like to thank Dr. Thomas and Alicia for taking your

time out and coming to my presentation. My name is Gadha Mohan, and I am a senior at Clear

Horizons High School. Today I will be discussing about my mentorship experience, and the

product that I have created to further my knowledge regarding the medical field. Before I

continue on with my presentation, I would like to show you my online portfolio that was created

for the Independent Study Mentorship course. I have been keeping up with this website

throughout my mentorship, and if you would like to see this presentation later on or is curious

about anything else, this right here is the URL. The home button has a brief description of what

field of study I am in and what my mentor’s name is, and it also has a picture of me and my

mentor. The tab “Project Introduction and Purpose Paper” explains what my product is and a

brief research regarding the topic. ISM class assignments tab contains my journal entries that I

created during the weeks that I came into Intern. It also has the Interview essay that I created in

the beginning to know my mentor a little better. Other tabs include my resume, the information

of this presentation and my product, and also about the Senior ISM Expo that takes place at Clear

Springs High School on December the 13th.

Now, going back to my presentation. Infant to adulthood is the most important portion of

an individual’s life. That’s the period of time where you shape into the person you become for

the rest of your life. Pediatricians are able to experience this beautiful moment and create a bond
with their patients. My name is Gadha and I mentored with Dr. Thomas at UTMB Children’s

clinic of Clear Lake. Dr. Thomas always knew that she wanted to go into a filed that included

children. She debated between being a teacher and being a pediatrician. She ended up choosing

the medical field and made the educational career a backup plan. However, with hard work and

determination, she became what she wanted in life.

Just like her, I always had an interest in taking care of children. Therefore, I wanted to do

something in the future that involved little kids. However, I knew that I did not want to go into

the teaching profession, but I had a passion for the medical field since I was little. So, when this

opportunity came, I took my chances and tried really hard to find someone in the pediatric field.

That being said, finding a mentor was a really hard process for me. We, as the students,

were told to find a mentor during the summer after our junior year. However, due to some

unexpected difficulty that I was facing with life, I had to go to India and stay there for the

summer and take care of certain things. So, I was not able to research and make the necessary

calls that were required in the journey of finding a mentor. I came back less than a month before

school started and got to work as soon as possible. After looking around for quite some time, I

finally was able to meet Dr. Thomas who was willing to take in an Intern with the busy work

schedule that she has.

Last year, during my junior year, I mentored with an NP at Memorial Herman Southeast

Hospital in the ER. I was exposed to many people who had a variety of medical issues that were

really interesting. However, at the end of my Internship with my mentor, I was not able to

present my project due to that obstacle that I faced near the end of the school year. While

Memorial Herman had a lot of training and paper work that needed to be done in order to start

interning, UTMB’s process was much quicker. I did not have to volunteer for 20 hours in order
to start my mentorship. Which was very convenient because I needed to start as soon as possible

since the semester goes by a lot faster in the beginning of the year.

During the mentorship with Dr. Thomas, I learned many things from her that I was not

able to experience during my previous mentorship. She allowed me to learn about the pediatric

field and introduced me to all her patients whenever we went into their rooms. This helped me

with my communication skills, since it made me have a direct contact with them instead of just

being an observer.

One of the things that I enjoyed observing during my internship was when Dr. Thomas

looked inside the little one’s ears. She would make bird noises and ask them “where’s the birdy”

to try to calm them down whenever they started crying. That gesture made me smile every day

when I came in. She made me realize that working as quickly as possible when a child is grumpy

is the best way to go. I always thought that the best way was to wait patiently for them to stop

crying, but apparently that is not the case! So, I was very surprised when I found that out.

I am generally described as a very quiet person who is very introverted. Therefore, I shy

away from asking questions and solving any curiosity I have. However, with Dr. Thomas, I was

very comfortable with since she made me feel very welcome, which allowed me to ask her about

any questions that I would have. The nurses and all the other doctors also made this clinic a very

warm place for newcomers. So, I was very thankful for that.

On the second week of my Internship, our instructor asked us to start brainstorming about

what our product will be. I was struggling with my topic and what I wanted to research more

about. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to do something related to ADHD because I have

always been interested in psychology and how each individual is different form the other.

However, I did not know what my product will be for this topic. At this time, Dr. Thomas
introduced me to the topic of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. It is a rare defect that I had

never heard of in my life, which automatically sparked an interest in me to do more research

about it and make it my final project. She also gave me multiple sources that might help me with

my research, which I was very grateful for.

Before I move onto the next slide, I want to state that some of the information in this

presentation comes from outside sources and will be cited appropriately. In an article by Rahul

H. Rathod, he describes Hypoplastic left heart syndrome as a defect with small left ventricle and

small left-sided structures incapable of supporting the body’s blood circulation. If this defect is

left untreated, it will be very fatal for the baby for obvious reasons. Such underdevelopments

would include abnormal narrowing of an opening which makes the blood flow hard or

hypoplasia of the mitral or aortic valves. The disease depends on the working condition of the

mitral and aortic valves.

At one spectrum, is the abnormal absence of the mitral and aortic valves, where it is

corresponded with either an absent or a slit like left ventricle cavity and a little ascending aorta.

On the opposite side of this spectrum is the “borderline left heart” where both of the valves are

narrow but not closed. So, the underlying case for this syndrome is unknown. However, it is

believed that the cause is depended of several factors, such as the alterations in blood flow and

genetic contributions. Other factors include the fetus who has growth restrictions, infection, and

a selective left ventricle cardiomyopathy. This disease is commonly found in fetuses who seem

generally healthy, however genetics play a key role in the development, and the heart does not

develop like its supposed to during the first 8 weeks of pregnancy, as stated by an article from

the university of Rochester Medical Center.

So, this right here is my product. I wanted to compare what the insides of a normal heart
looks like versus what a heart with this defect looks like. Trying to figure out what material my

product was going to be made out of was a very difficult process. First, I thought I could make

the heart model out of paper Mache, but then I realized that I won’t be able to show the insides

of the heart that easily. So, then I moved onto clay, however, I realized clay would not be an ideal

material since it is not very stable. At the end of my brainstorm, I came to the conclusion that I

will use Styrofoam and carve the insides of the heart to represent the chambers. This way I

would be able to explain what is happening during this defect in a visual manner.

In a normal heart, the deoxygenated blood comes back to the heart from the superior vena

cava and the inferior vena cava into the right atrium. From the Right Atrium, the blood gets

pumped into the Right Ventricle through the Tricuspid Valve. From there, the blood travels

through the pulmonary valve into pulmonary artery. The pulmonary artery then carries the blood

into the two lungs to get oxygenated. After the blood is oxygenated from the lungs, it travels

back into the heart through the Pulmonary vein and into the left atrium. From there the

oxygenated blood goes into the left ventricle through the mitral valve. After it reaches the left

ventricle, it goes through the aortic valve and into the Aorta and out to the rest of the body.

Now, in a heart with this defect, the Mitral and Aortic valves do not function or open

properly. In addition, the left ventricle is not pumping the blood with enough force since it’s not

big enough, therefore the normal blood flow from the left ventricle to the aorta is not happening

properly. Due to this, the right side of the heart has to now compensate for the left side as well.

Gestational babies have an opening between the pulmonary artery and the aorta, which is the

called ductus arteriosus. This closes up within a couple of days after the baby is born. For babies

with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, it is critical for the ductus arteriosus to remain open, so the

right side can compensate for what the left side is not fully able to do. Once the blood gets
pumped from the right ventricle, the blood goes to the pulmonary artery and into the aorta

through the PDA, or the patent ductus arteriosus. In addition, there also needs to be a hole

between the upper chambers of the heart, like the atrial septal defect, so the infant’s body will be

able to receive oxygenated blood. In order to keep the PDA open, and to make several other

connections for the baby’s survival, the infant needs to have surgery. Typically, the surgery is

done in 3 stages. One is shortly done after the baby is born. The second one takes place when the

baby is 3 to 6 months of age. And the third one ranges from 18 to 4 years.

To summarize up my presentation, due to this project, I was able to expand my

knowledge more regarding the medical field. And I hope that through this presentation, the

parents of the patients with this defect will get a better understanding the situation. I learned a

lot from this mentorship. It also solved most of the curiosity I had for what a pediatrician does on

a typical day. I enjoyed each and every day that I came in to Intern under Dr. Thomas. She

always made me feel welcome and made sure that I learned and gained knowledge that will help

me for my future career. I am also very thankful for my instructor, Mrs. Kahlich, who gave me

this opportunity to prosper in what I am interested in. Thank you again guys for taking the time

out from your busy schedule to come and listen to my presentation. Are there any questions?