Kevin Bartel ’14

Kevin Bartel“For Field Work Term I worked as a Research Assistant in the Vascular Integrated Physiology and Experimental Therapeutics (VIPERx) lab at University of California-San Francisco. The team I worked with was led by three very talented academic vascular surgeons with research interests ranging from the impact of lifestyle modification on peripheral artery disease, to examining how different diagnostic tools can be used to better understand endothelium function, and remodeling after surgery to the use of early stage experimental pharmaceuticals.

“The experience I gained volunteering in research at UCSF is invaluable personally and professionally. I worked with a variety of people ranging from fourth year medical students, to residents, to senior surgeons. Working with the team confirmed my decision to pursue a career in medicine. Going into FWT I never imagined I would have accomplished as much as I did. In five short weeks I observed lifesaving surgeries including a carotid endarterectomy, abdominal aortic bypass, limb amputation, and learned the basics of how clinical research works. Additionally, I am now a co-author on a methods paper describing the procedure for examining the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on peripheral artery disease, have performed a literature review for a paper aimed toward generating nutritional recommendations for patients with vascular disease, and had an opportunity to use the skills from my former career to build a website for the lab to increase the visibility of their research.”