Siavash’s goals from the internship were to deepen his exposure to the field of cardiothoracic surgery and develop skills in scientific research toward his career aspirations in academic cardiothoracic surgery. His favorite memory was attending a Ross skills lab and seeing the major steps of the procedure demonstrated on a pig heart and assist with tying sutures. His experience as a summer intern furthered his interest in cardiothoracic surgery practice and research. In addition, his research proposal for the summer internship has been advanced by characterizing wall stress clusters and their association with 3-year outcomes in ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms.

Siavash worked with Dr. Elaine Tseng as his mentor at the University of California, San Francisco.