James Eaton ’22 — This summer, I had the amazing opportunity to shadow a variety of doctors in the high-risk OB/GYN department at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas. During my time at Memorial Hermann I was able to join doctors on patient rounds, conduct research, and scrub into many surgeries. This experience not only educated me about medical specialties I was fairly unfamiliar with, but also provided me with firsthand experience working in emergency situations.
I think one of the most surprising things about my time at Memorial was how diverse our patients were. The Texas medical center, which Memorial was apart of, is one of the largest medical centers in the world. Because of this, we took in many patients from a variety of countries, which allowed me to interact with people from cultural backgrounds I was not familiar with. More importantly, I witnessed physicians and residents taking the time to understand the cultural backgrounds of their patients in an effort to provide the best care possible. This experience highlighted how the best physicians attempt to make a personnel connection with each of their patients.
One of the highlights of my time at Memorial Hermann was observing an in-utero endoscopic laser ablation, which is a fairly rare and complicated procedure that can correct twin-twin transfusion syndrome. It was fascinating watching a team of fetal surgeons simultaneously map and coagulate placental vessels in real time, especially because they were using extremely advanced technology to do so. This experience, along with the many other surgeries I observed, has drawn me closer to the procedure side of medicine. I am very thankful I had the opportunity to spend a summer at the Texas Medical Center, which would not have been possible without the help and generosity of Jill Rogers and Dr. Sean Blackwell.
