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Surgeon Hopes Students Open Hearts To Medicine

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By MARY SHEDDEN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 2, 2008

Once upon a time, a Dade County educator thought it would be nice to introduce promising teenage science students to the world of medicine.

Kids like Ernesto Jimenez. The high school junior loved biology but knew little about career options -- until his school teamed him with a neurosurgeon, who allowed the teen to witness a brain tumor resection firsthand. That experience led him to commit a decade of his life to becoming a physician.

"I thought it was really cool," Jimenez says of the life-changing experience that inspired his current vocation -- cardiothoracic surgery.

Today, he's paying it forward: He invited students from Tampa's Cambridge Christian School to watch him perform delicate cardiac surgery at Pepin Heart Hospital at University Community Hospital. The extraordinary field trip earlier this week was preceded by Jimenez's visit to the school's anatomy and biology lab for pig heart dissection. Another generation exposed to the link between classroom and powerful vocation.

"I would like the kids to have a light bulb go off and think about going into the medical field," says Jimenez, whose own children are students at the private school in the Egypt Lake area.

Most of the 42 students watched in rapt attention via in-house cameras as Jimenez replaced a 57-year-old woman's infected aortic valve. A handful of students sitting in the Pepin conference room averted their eyes from the close-ups projected on a jumbo screen. And nearly all groaned or shrieked as the operating room microphones transmitted the sounds of a saw cutting through the patient's sternum and suction tubes preparing the chest cavity and heart for the bypass.

Throughout the process, Jimenez spoke to the students about the procedure. He even quizzed his operating crew about the education needed to become certified in their respective fields, such as nursing and surgical assisting. Several students raised their hands when asked if they were interested in a health care career.

Some knew before Monday's surgery that they wanted to study medicine. Cambridge senior Katie Small is headed to the University of Florida this fall with plans to study oncology. As Jimenez cut and sutured on the jumbo screen in front of her, Small admitted she's leaning toward the research side of medicine.

"It's a little intense," she says of surgery.

Jimenez knows surgery isn't going to appeal to everyone -- and that's why he talks about a variety of medical careers. He's happy if his visits help bring to life something as unappealing as a formaldehyde-soaked pig's heart sitting in a dissection tray in a classroom.

"I love imparting knowledge," says Jimenez, who spoke excitedly in the classroom about how a pig's heart can help humans better understand how their own heart is affected by risk factors such as smoking and obesity.

This is the fourth year Jimenez has shared his knowledge with students at the 200-student high school. Students who have seen the surgery before say Jimenez changed their outlook.

"What we're learning actually impacts people's lives," says McKensey Smith, a senior who is considering a medical career, in dentistry.

"It makes you look at school differently."

Want to share your health and fitness idea? Contact me at (813) 259-7365 or mshedden@tampatrib.com.

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