Aspiring cardiologist pumped

Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute is a nice credential to add to your resume before you’ve even graduated from high school.

Edward Spink, a student going into Grade 12 this fall at Ecole J.H. Picard in Edmonton, is one of 45 Alberta high school students chosen to participate in the Heritage Youth Researcher Summer program.

Participants receive a grant from Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions to work on research projects and get hands-on health research experiences in laboratories and clinics across Alberta.

Spink is working in the laboratory of Gary Lopaschuk, scientific director at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute. Lopaschuk’s research into diabetes and the heart investigates the delicate balance between sugar and fatty acids, the two main sources of fuel for the heart.

“It’s just so awesome here. This is such a rare opportunity. I get to learn how to do medical research while I am still in high school,” says Spink.

“I have learned how to do experiments, study the different proteins that help the heart to pump and even how to do a cardiac function test.”

A highlight of Spink’s six-week placement is the opportunity to scrub in and watch cardiac specialists perform a heart procedure in the catheterization lab at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute.

For someone whose favorite part of Grade 11 biology was learning about the circulatory system and the heart, it’s a dream come true.

Students who apply to the program are required to have an 85 per cent average; complete core science subjects; have two teacher references and a community reference, and write an essay about health research that interests them and why they want to be part of the program.

This year, the program received 176 applications from Grade 11 students in 73 schools around Alberta. An adjudication committee of high school teachers from St. Albert, Lethbridge and Calgary, as well as a professor from the University of Calgary, selected 45 students. Sixteen of the students are from towns and rural communities across Alberta.

Alberta Health Services employee Chandell Bilsborrow, project manager of patient education at the Mazankowski, hopes this kind of outreach to students will spur their interest in the cardiac sciences field and help them make well-informed choices about their career options.

“These kinds of opportunities give the next generation the chance to ask questions of our multi-disciplinary cardiac teams,” she says.

“By exposing young people to research and the medical environment, we are helping to not only build the next generation but sustain our commitment to being on the leading edge of understanding, prevention and treatment of heart disease.”

This has certainly been the case for Spink, who encourages other students with an interest in science to look for similar opportunities.

“They just may find this experience leads them into a career they will have for the rest of their lives,” Spink says.