Technology that Directs Erin Nix

A shadowing trip to the St. Joseph’s Neonatal Unit (NICU)changed my life. It began as anassignment in my eighth grade class, which instructed eachstudent to shadow a professionhe or she thought they might be interestedin pursuing. I struggled tofind just the rightprofession for the assignment. I knewfrom my younger years that I was intrigued by the medical field, and I also hada strong liking for children, but shadowing a pediatrician didn’t seem to fitquite right. With this in mind, myinstructor suggested that I shadow a neonatalogist. On the journey, I only had to spend a few minutes inside the darken NICU room to realize that its inhabitants were delicate little humans that could not survive unless supported by many of the new technologies and machines that surrounded them. Fiftyyears ago these little ones would be left to die only because therewas noother option. Technologyand the ideaof helping such innocence became my driving force to help mestrive to achievemy goal of becoming a neonatalogist.

I began mycollege career in chemical engineering, thinkingthis would help in beingable to design and create new medical devices, and itwas a good undergraduatedegree to have before applying to medicalschools. After two semesters of solidCs and constant struggle, I metan individualwho inspired me to studysomething closer to my heart and notjust what myengineering parentsexpected. So insteadof struggling andcontinuing with a solid C average,I made theswitch to biology. Biology relightsthe flame for my desiresand goals to work in medicine. I becameintriguedby everything I was learning and I was finallyable to enjoy mysurroundings. Continuing with mypassion in this field I undertook a job as a laboratoryassistant at theInstitute for Behavioral Genetics. HereI was able to learn the new ways of examining DNA and electrophoresis, as wellas polychain reactions (PCR). I wastruly amazed at how fast technology evolved to allow researchers to determine,for example, which genes are responsible for chronic diseases. It further showed me that many newtechnologies would come into play in the medical field long before I finishedmy career. Such advances could meanbetter care and prolonged life formany people in distress, much like theinnocent premature infants.

Withtechnology constantly evolving, it can be difficult to maintain a high level ofknowledge. In many ways this is wherecollege played its most important role in my life. College has helped shaped my life and my way of thinking. It has allowed me to obtain knowledge ofmany technologies that I would not have been able to receive outside theuniversity. College helped me to feelcomfortable with new inventions, as well as realize when an old method may notbe the most effective or beneficial. Many facts have been learned in the field of biology, but above thiscollege has taught me how to learn and how to problem solve.

The skillsI have learned in college, especially problemsolving, make me feel as though I am better prepared and more marketable forany career I choose, particularly neonatology. I hope that in the future when faced with a difficult patient whosehardest struggle is maintaining existence on earth, I will be able to use theold methods and technology to help but to also use new ideas and new technologyto formulate better methods that might be more beneficial and more effective.