On Friday local legislators took an exciting tour of UConn Health’s campus.
The legislative tour included stops at UConn School of Medicine and Dental Medicine giving lawmakers a hands-on experience with the latest, innovative tools being used to train the next generation of Connecticut’s doctors and dentists.
“There are a lot of smart kids in Connecticut,” said Dr. Bruce T. Liang, dean of UConn School of Medicine. “Eighty-five percent of our medical students come from the state. We hope to train them and keep them here. As our hope is that they will stay here and serve Connecticut.”
Second-year medical students, Kelly Nedorostek of Canton and Colin Pavano of Avon, guided legislators through the Virtual Anatomy Lab and a demonstration of the high-tech Anatomage tables.
Legislators learned first-hand how students gain deep insights about the human anatomy virtually through the state-of-the-art table’s medical images of the human body and additionally through training in radiology techniques like X-Ray, electrocardiogram, MRI and point-of-care ultrasound, a rapidly growing tool in the U.S.
“This is amazing,” said State Representative Pam Staneski after demoing the Anatomage table. “This really is cool.”
“The Virtual Anatomy Lab has been a very unique educational experience for us,” shared Pavano, a second-year UConn medical student. “I don’t know any medical school that is using ultrasound like we do. It just gives one more example of how UConn is always one step ahead.”
UConn School of Dental Medicine’s Dr. Steven Lepowsky, senior associate dean for education and patient care, took legislators through a walking tour of the Grasso Simulation Lab where all dental students train on patient simulation models prior to gaining patient care experience.
Lepowsky proudly shared: “We are the only public dental school in New England. Plus, we are one of only four dental schools in the U.S. with a biomedical sciences program.”
Legislators also had the opportunity to tour the brand new Advanced Dental Simulation Lab. Using 3D virtual reality simulation, the lab’s technology allows students to practice their dental skills and procedures on actual teeth, with a real-feel and sound experience. Also, the teaching dental faculty are able to record and review each student’s work to track their training progress. UConn’s dental school is one of only four schools in the nation to have the innovative training technology.
State Senator Paul Formica really enjoyed his virtual reality dental drilling experience removing a cavity from a tooth.
“It was great,” Formica said. “I’m impressed with the technology at both schools.”
In addition, Lepowsky toured the legislators through the dental clinics established in 1972 and then through the newly renovated dental clinics. The new dental clinics are more patient-focused with brighter, quieter and larger private patient care areas. The dental clinic renovations are the last phase of UConn Health’s construction projects under the state’s Bioscience Connecticut initiative launched in 2012.
State Representative Kevin Ryan’s favorite part of the UConn Health tour was the medical school’s Virtual Anatomy Lab. “That was pretty impressive,” said Ryan. “Also, the dental lab where students are able to do things hands-on.”
“It’s really nice to get young people excited about science and medicine,” said Dr. John Harrison, the director of the Human and Virtual Anatomy Lab at UConn Health.
Harrison added: “Thanks so much to the legislators for all your support of our educational initiatives.”
