On the road to immersion (Week 5)

 This week I continued shadowing Dr. Irina Sobol.

1) Spent time in the CT reading room interpreting cardiac CT scans. This session was extremely helpful in getting a good 3D understanding of the cardiovascular anatomy.

2) Continued working on my research project. The orientation finding algorithm is coming along really well. Some more diagnostics are needed to be run in order to be sure that the framework is doing what it is supposed to do. In addition, I had the opportunity to examine and measure geometric parameters of a standalone HM3 pump and the corresponding apical cuff (used to anchor the LVAD to the apex of the heart). These measurements go directly into the development of the mathematics of the "orientation-finding" algorithm.

3) Next week, I am going to participate in some ramp and reverse ramp studies.

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