Last week, the SHM cohort of the WLP braved an early morning metro commute to visit the National Institutes of Health

"Last week, the SHM cohort of the WLP braved an early morning metro commute to visit the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, Maryland. It is nearly impossible to see all NIH does and has to offer in one trip. Still, our visit was nothing short of informative, inspiring, and extraordinary. It is no secret that NIH conducts ground-breaking research projects. Knowing this, before our visit to NIH I expected to hear about all of the amazing labs they described in our itinerary and maybe view their projects from an outside perspective. This was exciting enough to me, as someone who tends to fangirl over any new medical research projects. This research represents a new age in science, after all!

My expectations were not only met but were exceeded by a great amount. Not only did I hear about vascular development and mutation research, but my peers and I were able to walk through the facilities where their research models (thousands of zebrafish) were kept. We were also able to observe the process of how the lab obtains zebrafish embryos. Last, and perhaps the most exciting, was the opportunity to view zebrafish embryos under a microscope with fluorescent markers. These markers allowed us to see the heart and blood vessel movement in the embryo. Zebrafish are much more remarkable than one would be tempted to think. Our lab host explained how some zebrafish can hemorrhage in their first few days of life, fully recover, and then go on to live a full life. Hearing this sparked an interest in me for how this ability could be researched and translated in order to help humans who hemorrhage. This is exactly something this lab could hope to do. I could see the big picture of how research may impact lives. This in itself was inspiring.

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Imaging of live zebrafish embryos showing brain hemorrhage. A-D) Brightfield images showing location of hemorrhage in the head of the embryo. E) Fluorescence microscopy image showing blood vessels tagged with green fluorescent protein and red blood cells tagged with red fluorescent protein. From: Butler, M. G., Gore, A. V., & Weinstein, B. M. (2011). Zebrafish as a model for hemorrhagic stroke. Methods in Cell Biology, 105, 137-161.

During our visit, SHM students also had the amazing opportunity of participating in a Q&A session with a panel of three very accomplished women at NIH. One of the women, Miranda M. Broadney, MD, MPH, was specifically inspiring. Dr. Broadney is an acting pediatrician who also participates in research projects. I hope to become a pediatrician one day but thought if I did this I would be giving up any dream of participating in research projects. Both fields have always been fascinating to me but I never thought I could have time for both. Truly, I was wrong, as Dr. Broadney has found a way to incorporate both in her career. All three scientists also shared their journeys of how they got to where they are today. After all they have accomplished in different fields, their advice remained the same: to enjoy and appreciate life now. I could not argue with that.

Ending the day on this note could not have been more perfect. Walking into and around

the large NIH campus was overwhelming at times. Hearing about the competitive internship opportunities was exciting yet intimidating as well. These women though, allowed me to see the big picture and demonstrated the importance of following my passions/dreams. Who knows, maybe one summer I will find myself interning as a lab assistant at NIH or applying for a job. All I know is, after our visit to NIH, my notions of NIH being a remarkable place (practically an amusement park for scientific research) have only been reinforced and enhanced. Without a doubt, opportunities such as this visit are extremely valuable to the student experience."

Kaitlynn Slattery, SHM 2018-19