The six students, with their teacher Diane Frawley, were participants of the robotics in surgery workshop at White Plains Hospital, facilitated by Dr. Philip Weber, director of The Division of Minimally Invasive Surgery, Robotics, and Bariatrics.
The students who attended included Cameron Berkowitz, Natalie Casique, Robert DiMarino, Vito Gonnella, Darya Khodakhah, and Elisa Pettinato.
“I found the robotics program at White Plains Hospital to be very interesting,” said Berkowitz. “I thought it was really cool to go in the operating room and get to use a machine that simulated doing surgery with a robot. Learning about the different medical jobs made me possibly want to pursue a career in the medical field.”
The students formed two teams, one learning about and using the robot and the other team using the simulator. Each team had the opportunity to learn about laparoscopy surgery by using the virtual surgical simulator, sewing sutures and cauterizing blood vessels.
“I had a wonderful time attending the robotics in surgery workshop at White Plains Hospital,” said Pettinato. “As a student interested in both engineering and medicine, this hands-on experience was inspiring and fun. I had never been inside of an operating room before, so getting the chance to dress up in scrubs and talk about medical equipment made me feel like a real doctor. I am glad I attended this experience, and I am so excited to see the new types of technology that will enter the medical field in the near future.”
Currently, the school doesn't offer job fairs, so the chance to visit a real-life business in action was a real learning experience, said Khodakhah.
“This was an amazing experience! Being able to interact with such an innovate and advanced machine and even simulate a similar experience to what surgeons experience was really cool,” she said.
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