Interprofessional STEM Scholars Program Teaches 4th/5th Graders About Diabetes, Cancer and Alzheimer's

A Community Outreach Approach The STEM Scholars Program, a new interprofessional community outreach program at UT Health San Antonio provides a platform for dental, graduate, health professions, medical and nursing students to interact and collaboratively design and present health-related topics at local K-12 schools. The topics chosen for the pilot run are diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. UT Health San Antonio dental students Kara Hegwood, DSII, Luke Sieler, DSIII, Keaton Shin, DSIV, and Christopher Adams, DSIV participated as STEM Scholars. Dr. Ryan Hamilton and Bettina Clutts, teachers at Basis San Antonio Primary – Medical Campus, helped coordinate the recruitment of students. Parents of elementary students from 4th and 5th grade classes received invites for the presentation as a voluntary afterschool program, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. With the program garnering great interest, the sessions were restricted to 50 students from the school. Diabetes The first presentation was about diabetes, a disease related to high blood sugar. During the diabetes lesson, the students took a pre-quiz and then listened to a lecture created by the STEM Scholars team. “29 million Americans have diabetes and 86 million Americans have prediabetes meaning people who are likely to get diabetes,” explained Ivan Rubalcava, a student in the Master of Science in Cell Systems and Anatomy program, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. “We all have sugar in our blood; however, diabetics have a very high amount of sugar which affects your pancreas, eyes, kidney, nerves, teeth and gums." Christopher Adams, a senior student from the School of Dentistry, explained that there are many signs of diabetes including dry mouth, bad breath, bacterial infection, gum disease, tooth cavities and tooth loss. Read full article on diabetes presentation HERE. Cancer The second presentation was about cancer. During the cancer lesson, the students took a pre-quiz and then listened to a lecture created by the STEM Scholars team. First the IPE Scholar students explained the basics about cells, the cell cycle, and the differences between normal and abnormal cell growth. Some examples include skin cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, blood cancer, gastric cancer, and oral cancer. Luke Seiler and Keaton Shin from the School of Dentistry explained that oral cancer is something that he has to know about because as dentists, they can help diagnose oral cancer and then advise patients to see a physician. Seiler explained that there are many risk factors for oral cancer but smoking and in particular vaping is especially important for these school aged children. Siler and Shin demonstrated oral cancer screening examinations with the students. Mallah and Lawerence, from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, explained that cancer is a group of different but related diseases. “Cells are a basic unit of life,” explained Alia Mallah, a student in the joint Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. program in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. “Cancer is an example of a mutation which is basically when something goes wrong in the cell.” Hernandez, a student in the Respiratory Care program in the School of Health Professions, brought up the recent fad in popular culture of “vaping.” New research has found that vaping alters the physical appearance of airways and lung macrophages. Anna Laura Licon, a student in the Doctorate of Medical Physics program in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, explained how she works with linear accelerators in the clinic which rotate around the patient to deliver high energy x-rays which damage the DNA in cancer cells to stop them from replicating. The STEM Scholars wrapped up the session with activity sessions including head and neck exams, pig heart model, DNA cell game, and linear accelerator model, sunscreen and moles chart. Read full article on cancer presentation HERE. Alzheimer's The third presentation was about neurodegeneration, Alzheimer’s Disease, and aging. During the lesson, the students took a pre-quiz and then listened to a lecture created by the STEM Scholars team. “Neurodegeneration is the loss of brain matter,” explained Adrian Beckmann, a student in the Cell Biology, Genetics, and Molecular Medicine discipline in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. He explained that when we see patients who had Alzheimer’s disease, scientists can see a substantial loss of neurons. “We don’t really know why neurons are loss but age is definitely a factor,” Beckmann said. Luke Seiler, a junior student in the School of Dentistry, explained that when patients with Alzheimer’s disease come in, there are a few things that he can do differently in the clinic to ensure a great experience. Read full article on the Alzheimer's presentation HERE. The STEM Scholars Program is funded by a grant from the Student Services Fee Committee to Charlotte Anthony, Marketing Specialist, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Dr. Ramaswamy Sharma, Assistant Professor, Cell Systems and Anatomy, Long School of Medicine and Dr. Irene Chapa, Director, Recruitment & Science Outreach. The program thanks Olga Coronado and Tracy Castillo from the Office of Recruitment and Science Outreach and Dr. Moshtagh Farokhi, Leader of LINC Co-Curricular Initiative, Associate Professor/Clinical, School of Dentistry for their extensive help with organizing and coordinating the presentations and activities. All images are courtesy of Charlotte Anthony from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. This article was edited by Dr. Farokhi and originally published in The Pipette Gazette.