Teens who dream of becoming doctors learn about medical school

CAMP-CARDIAC-WEB

“I want to be a cardiologist, and Camp Cardiac is really helping,” said Alina Khan, an Irving high school student.

She and about two dozen other teenagers from all over the Metroplex have converged on the UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth to participate in Camp Cardiac. It’s a national program that lets high school kids sample medical school, with an emphasis on the human heart.

The intensive five-day experience mixes classroom learning with hands-on practice and informal question-and-answer sessions with actual medical students. About 14 students from the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine have devoted rare downtime to help the younger kids understand what they’ll encounter once they get to medical school.

“These high school students are amazing, so eager to become doctors and so academically advanced for their age group,” said Phillip Saperstein, DO, Professor of Family Medicine, as he supervised the teens taking each other’s blood pressure.

“The questions they ask show how deep their learning is,” said Amani Sanchez, second-year TCOM student and Director of Camp Cardiac Fort Worth.  “One of them accurately read an EKG.”

When Alina Khan finished her mock exam of a fellow Camp Cardiac student, she approached the exam room sink. Said TCOM student Lauren Rutter, “Look, we didn’t even tell her to, and she’s washing her hands!”

Recent News

Abe Clark
  • Research
|Mar 28, 2024

Dr. Abe Clark honored with international research award

Abbot “Abe” Clark, PhD, FARVO, FAAO, regents professor of pharmacology and neuroscience in the School of Biomedical Sciences at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, has received the International Society for Eye Research 2024 Ernst H. Bárány Prize.   The awar...
Processed With Lensa With Pt12 Filter
  • Research
|Mar 28, 2024

Dr. Steven Romero receives American Physiological Society award for excellence in research

Dr. Steven Romero, associate professor of Physiology and Anatomy at the School of Biomedical Sciences at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, was named the 2024 Henry Pickering Bowditch Award Lecturer by the American Physiological Society. The lectureship is awarded to ...
Screenshot 2024 03 28 At 8.50.12 am
  • Our People
|Mar 28, 2024

Physical therapy student lands prestigious role in national organization

When Jonathan Hansen was an undergraduate intern at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital, he encountered a man who had just suffered a stroke. The patient’s right side was completely paralyzed. Hansen, now a first-year student in The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Wort...
Jackie In Dc
  • Our People
|Mar 27, 2024

Personalized Health and Well-Being student repays generosity through advocacy

In 2019, The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth student Jacqueline Green said she felt hopeless. She became pregnant while experiencing hard financial times, and she didn’t have insurance. Compounding her stress was terrible grief. Her mother-in-law suddenly passed away,...