Francesca Schillaci: Rodham Institute, Week 3

Hello,

As I finish my third week in D.C., I can safely say that I have finally acclimated to the humidity! It no longer bothers me! If you missed my last blog, I am an intern at the Rodham Institute housed within the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington D.C. The Rodham Institute strives for health equity in the D.C. area and participates in a myriad of community outreach programs.

This week, I attended a zoom by Dr. El-Bayoumi where she talked to a group of students who are studying music about how music can heal the brain. It was definitely an interesting zoom. Music can be used to retrain and reeducate an injured brain.

Zoom with Dr. El-Bayoumi

Later that day, I also attended a medical grand rounds meeting. Grand rounds are a methodology of medical education. For this grand rounds, the speaker was Gary Simon, a virologist at the GW Hospital. He is the Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Vice Chairman of the Department of Medicine. The grand rounds with Gary Simon was, without a doubt, entertaining as he talked about his personal hate and issues with the CDC and Secret Service. During the grand rounds, he talked about different viruses and bacteria and how they have progressed over time. What stood out to me was when he spoke about his experience with an Ebola unit at the GW Hospital. The White House was pressing the GW Hospital to admit multiple Ebola patients. The GW Hospital did not want to admit the Ebola patients as it would require a total of 24 nurses a day which would put a strain on the hospital. He also talked about Covid-19 and the reproduction rate of the virus. A reproduction rate below 1 means that the virus can no longer be maintained whereas a reproduction rate above 1 indicates ongoing spread. To no surprise, the reproduction rate of covid-19 is between 2.2 – 5.7, whereas the reproduction rate of seasonal influenza is between 1.3 – 2.7. 

Slide about Ebola at GW Hospital.

Reproduction Rates of several viruses.

I also had a staff meeting where we talked about the plan for next week. Of course, I will fill you all in on what I do next week on Sunday, instead of spoiling what I’ll do now!

As for my free time, I celebrated my birthday on Monday with cake and pizza….yay I’m 17!! I also went to the mall with my second-cousin on Wednesday. At the mall they had a Nespresso shop, which I found funny because I did not know people went to the mall to buy coffee. On Saturday we went down to Alexandria to eat out near the waterfront and enjoy the 70 degree weather!

Nespresso shop in the mall.