Dr. Alvaro Manrique Hosts President’s Academy
ULM President’s Academy Students Are Heart Electricians at P&S Surgical Hospital
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n July at P&S Surgical Hospital, visiting high school students learned how to map the human heart, treat heart arrhythmia, and even understand the importance of following their own hearts. Alvaro Manrique Garcia, M.D., a board certified cardiac electrophysiologist who specializes in the electrical system of the heart, encouraged the visiting high school students to “follow their hearts” when choosing a medical profession. “Choose this profession because you love it, because you want to make people feel better. It’s so important to follow your heart when deciding what to do with your life.” The 10 junior and senior high school students from Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi visited P&S Surgical Hospital’s Cardiac and Peripheral-Vascular
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Laboratories as part of the University of Louisiana at Monroe President’s Academy, a preparatory program for high-ability junior and senior high school students. The young scholars—all of whom are interested in pursuing a medical profession—imagined their futures today when they performed simulated cardiac ablations on chicken breast tissue. A cardiac ablation, which is performed on adult patients of all ages, can transform a patient’s quality of life by eradicating areas in the heart that are producing abnormal electrical impulses and causing heart arrhythmia. The students utilized three dimensional cardiac mapping, just as an electrophysiologist would do to capture a clear picture of the heart’s inner workings. The students also learned to locate where the irregular rhythm occurred and cauterize
the particular cell causing the arrhythmia. One such student was Kyla Mccall of Oak Grove High School in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Today’s hands-on experience, combined with Manrique’s words, solidified her future career choices, she said. “When I was six years old, I found out that I had a heart murmur, so I’ve been in and out of cardiology offices. Dr. Manrique talked to us today about his specialty, and he really made me fall in love with it,” she said. “I didn’t know what field to go into, but I think he just convinced me to study cardiology.” To put it simply, an electrophysiologist is an “electrician of the heart.” This type of cardiologist focuses on heart rhythm disorders, which can produce symptoms such as palpitations, light-headedness, shortness of breath, fatigue, dizziness,