Biomedical Symposium for Parkland School District

More than 250 Parkland High School students and 30 staff from St. Luke’s University Health Network will roll up their sleeves for another biomedical symposium on April 3 from 7 am to 3 pm at Parkland High School.

St. Luke's athletic trainers, physicians, orthopedic surgeons, physician assistants, physical therapists, nurses and EMS have teamed up to provide a full day's educational program.  The program includes a cadaver dissection (knee), pig lung intubation, EMS ambulance and helicopter demo and an arthroscopic surgical demo. Other stations will include suturing, an injection lab, an imaging and ultrasound lab, EKG, a Sim Lab and stations on the opioid crisis, Stop the Bleed and hands only CPR.

“The students are always interested to be in the presence of a cadaver specimen and to actually see, firsthand, the inside of the human body,” says Aaron Boggs MA, LAT, ATC, Program Manager of the West Market, St. Luke’s Sports Medicine. “These students are obviously extremely dedicated to the sciences. We want to stoke their interests as they relate to their interests in attending medical school or pursuing a career in the medical field. We want this event, and others like it, to make a big impact on their futures.”

“The educational collaboration between the Parkland School District and St. Luke's offers students an unmatched opportunity to experience hands-on medical skills and simulated medical situations led by actual medical professionals. The students are so excited and enthusiastic to participate in this event" says Boggs.  "We receive hundreds of thank you messages from students every year after these events and many students remark that the Biomedical Symposium has been a life changing experience for them.  Helping these highly motivated students to make informed career path decisions is something that the network is happy to provide though this event, and others like it. 

Parkland students participating in the sessions include those who want to pursue a career in the medical field and are participating in the Project Lead the Way ® Human Body Systems class, which is part of a national curriculum. The class examines the interactions of human body systems as they explore identity, power, movement, protection and homeostasis and take on the roles of biomedical professionals to solve real-world medical cases.

“Many of these students represent the future of surgical and rehabilitative medicine so it’s important for them to have this kind of early exposure,” says Daniel Heckman, MD, orthopedic surgeon, St. Luke’s Orthopedic Care. “By the time they are practicing in the field, the technology and surgical instruments could be quite different, but the anatomy and physiology of the human body will be the same.”

Throughout the year, these students are involved in rigorous, hands-on, biomedical course curriculum including content and activities that immerse them in medical scenarios and situations, like dissections of a fetal pig and the heart, brain, kidney and eye of other organisms.

A list of sessions offered for students is below:

• Dissection
• Careers
• Splinting
• Ambulance
• Sim Truck (Mobile Simulation Lab)
• Stop the Bleed
• Injections
• Opioids
• Hands Only CPR
• Ultrasound / Radiology
• EKG / Heart Sounds
• Wound Care
• Physical Therapy
• Suturing
• Surgical Demo