The summer break presents an opportunity for students to gain vital hands-on experience applying the skills they learned in the classroom in interesting ways and make informed decisions about their futures. We reached out to community members to find out how they’re spending the summer, including St. Mike’s alumna Anna Samuel, who is engaged in five research studies that will give her valuable insight as she decides what areas of medicine she will specialize in.
Anna Samuel sees the summer as an opportunity to gain clarity about where to specialize before embarking on her third year of medicine at the University of Toronto. She’s taking on five research projects that are geared toward diagnosing and treating and the management of cancer. “I’m trying to find opportunities wherever I can that intersect with where my passions lie at the moment,” she says.
When seeking out research projects, she was guided by her interest in pursuing specializations in radiology and general surgery. Among these projects, she is looking into the possibility of using contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to detect ovarian cancer. “I’m investigating imaging features that tell the radiologist the nodule they see is actually cancer, so that the patient can be diagnosed right then and there without waiting for a biopsy,” she says.
Another project uses the same technique, but to diagnose liver cancer. She’s also comparing AI chat boxes and their ability to diagnose based on radiographic images; conducting research into Terson syndrome, a condition of bleeding in the eye; and perioperative care for geriatric patients. “The care one receives surrounding surgery has so many implications for their clinical outcome,” she says.
“It’s hectic, but that’s what research is. I like that I can take lessons I’ve learned from one project and apply them to another,” she says.
She appreciates that these research projects are at all different stages, giving her a wide range of responsibilities that allow her to gain experience in all phases of clinical research. Her responsibilities range from helping write the protocol, submitting applications to the ethics board, writing consent forms, collecting and extracting data, and writing the manuscript and submitting it to editors for feedback.
For her research into AI chat boxes, she is responsible for inputting diagnostic images into different AI chat boxes and recording the AI’s diagnosis. She will provide this data to the Principal Investigator who will use this information for statistical analysis.
“With the rise of AI, there’s a lot of talk about how physicians’ duties will be reduced because we have these online tools and devices to do their job. This research might show that this process is imperfect, and that human nuance remains invaluable; you need someone with clinical experience and not just interpretations based on purely statistical analyses,” she says.
In addition to her commitment to research, she’s looking forward to starting rotations in August, specializing in interventional radiology and general surgery – her favourite subjects during her first two years of medical school.
“I assisted on a double mastectomy earlier this year, and it was the coolest thing I’ve ever done. Every time the surgeon took a lump out, she would say, ‘that’s another life saved’. It made me want to explore general surgery a little bit more,” she says.
Her time at St. Mike’s helped her clarify her future career and work towards that goal.
“I sincerely attribute St. Mike’s as the reason that I got into medical school. The community I gained through the people that I met there, the support I received through mentorship and the opportunities made available to me gave me a leg up when applying to medical school,” she says.
She studied genetics at the undergraduate level as a St. Michael’s student before applying to medicine in the third year. During this time, she lived in St. Michael’s residences and served as a Don. “As I grew into this role, I found myself really enjoying helping young women and this has guided some of the projects I’m working on this summer as well,” she says.
“I’m excited to be able to help women in all areas of their well-being including academic, mental and now medical,” she says.
“In med school interviews they want you to pull lessons from your own life experiences that demonstrate your ability to help others, and all my stories came from St. Mike’s. There were times that I needed guidance and my Dons, mentors and even administrators were able to provide me with the support I needed. I don’t think I would have been able to do it without St. Mike’s,” she says.
In addition to firming up career plans, she’s discovered a passion for research itself.
“Research is an interesting combination of face-to-face clinical care and scientific investigation. I see myself continuing on in research even during my clinical years. I think it’s important to pay it forward in this field, so I get to leave something behind that others can continue to use and build off,” she says.