Senior Project Blog Post One

For my senior project, I decided to work with my father, Dr. Harold Kim. He's an otolaryngologist (ear nose and throat doctor), but specializes on the ear. As a physician, he operates on numerous patients for numerous reasons. One of the more common surgeries he performs is called bone-anchored hearing aids (BAHAs). Essentially, sometimes traditional air-conductive hearing aids either aren't effective enough or cause too much discomfort for patients (they sit on the ear and can easily be muffled and jostled), most patients turn to BAHAs. However, in more recent years, many patients have chosen BAHAs as their first option due to the BAHA's cosmetic and comfort benefits. 

Dr. Nancy Lin MD, my mother

For the next few weeks, my dad and I will be collecting data from the clinical trials that he had performed earlier in the year. After aggregating this data, we will submit it to a larger corporation that will take the findings of several doctors from around the world and publish a detailed analysis about a prospective "minimally invasive" method of performing BAHAs. Throughout this period, I hope to achieve a couple of things. First, get real, firsthand professional experience that I can hopefully take with me later in life to future employment opportunities. Secondly, learning how to manage large amounts of data, referencing 4-5 different sources in order to tie together one statistic or one point is a skill that will most likely be super relevant to whatever field I go into in the future (I am planning on pursuing some sort of engineering). Finally, I plan to spend a lot of time with both my parents (they work together, so although I am technically working with my dad, I will see my mom a lot) before I have to go out to college. 

Dr. Harold Kim MD, my father

I chose this project for a number of different reasons. For one, I have the opportunity to work, firsthand, with my father on real, meaningful research. Additionally, as I have some interest in biomedical engineering, I will hopefully be able to get a glimpse of what exactly biomedical design and research entails.

Earlier in the year, when senior projects started to be discussed, my mom formulated a plan to force her husband and son to work together in their waning days under the same roof. Although I gave my input and preferences here and there, it really was my mother and father who figured out the logistics, both domestically and with the overseas corporation that we are working with.