Romina Sanchez

Influencing Locomotion: Thinking Beyond Neuroscience

Medicine is much more than academics. A successful medical professional learns the management of ethical practices, interpersonal skills and coping with the emotional strains. Scientific research provides insight to these concepts that are sometimes neglected in academic settings and thus offers the ability to recognize these themes through observations and experience. My work with deep brain stimulation (DBS), a treatment option approved for Parkinson’s disease, in animal models is a promising future therapy option for paralyzed patients. My team and I were able to excite neurons in the Mesencephalic Locomotor Region (MLR) and thus induce locomotion. Learning different analytical practices and methodologies of neurology provided me with new perspectives that helped shape my way of thinking beyond the realms of academic knowledge, and this made my internship a truly successful endeavor.