10/15/2024
Impact Update from Summer Scholar, Umida Burkhanova
The OSMA Foundation has an update from our NEOMED 2024 Summer Scholar recipient regarding her progress, internship experiences, and reflections on what is next in their medical career.
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Umida Burkhanova Internship: |
When asked about reflections on her summer experiences, our OSMA Summer Scholar, Umida, replied:"I chose this unpaid internship to help study the impact of COVID-19 on central precocious puberty in children because I worked as a nursing assistant on a COVID-19 designated floor through the pandemic and I saw firsthand how the virus impacted the lives of patients right there and then. However, I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it because I had to sustain myself and my younger brother. Having a passion for fertility & endocrinology I am very grateful for the Summer Scholars program for providing us the opportunity to pursue our passions to learn and discover things that will change the lives of our future patients as this stipend has changed ours today. My main responsibility of my work entailed doing a lot of chart reviews to identify the symptoms of central precocious puberty in some of the patients who attended the clinic pre-COVID, during COVID, and post-pandemic. I have learned a lot more about clinical presentation of some important endocrine diseases in kids and was able to refine differential diagnosis skills when discussing some of the symptoms that I encountered in reviewing charts with my physician mentor. It has been a very interesting and rewarding journey to get to learn so much about the area that I am truly passionate about, and of course it is all thanks to OSMA foundation and our generous donors!" |
Final Project Reflection:
"I had the invaluable opportunity to work on clinical research with Dr. Katherine Kutney and Dr. Barbara Garza Ornelas at UH CMC and Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. We focused on studying the impact of COVID-19 on the rise in cases of idiopathic central precocious puberty in children. It was like being a detective, carefully reviewing charts, bloodwork, imaging that revealed bone age, and even analyzing family trends in the onset of puberty and the height of immediate relatives. All these factors played a crucial role in confirming or denying an idiopathic central precocious puberty diagnosis.
This experience further reinforced my passion for reproductive endocrinology. After this summer's research, I am even more curious about how hormones interact and how the delicate balance of these interactions underpins many diseases. The mentorship of Dr. Kutney and Dr. Garza Ornelas was instrumental in shaping my understanding, and I am deeply grateful for their guidance.
I am profoundly grateful to the OSMA Foundation for making this experience possible. Their support allowed me to pursue a topic that I am truly passionate about, even though it was an unpaid internship. Without their sponsorship, I wouldn’t have been able to immerse myself in research that means so much to me. Their generosity has not only fueled my curiosity but also reinforced my commitment to a career in reproductive endocrinology. I can’t thank them enough for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to contribute to such meaningful work this summer."