Throughout the duration of my internship, I worked on various projects. From the start, I worked on organizing data and records from prior years. To prepare for the collection event happening later that year, I went through the previous volunteer records from other years and organized them through our database website Opal. This tissue collecting event is the most crucial event for the KTB. It is where the main source of our normal breast tissue, serum, and plasma is collected.

I also organized consent forms from previous collection events by year and name. I worked with our Opal system to verify donors, volunteers, and physicians are in our system. Keeping everything up to date is essential for organization and quick access. I was able to incorporate my organizational skills to keep documents together and accessible. This trait has helped me look up donors and physicians easily and allow the KTB staff to look for anyone or anything with a quick name search.

Besides data and consent forms, I organized tissue cell compartments by serial numbers in the green room. I enjoyed this process of keeping valuable specimens in the right order to prevent confusion or fear of anything being lost. Staying organized is an important aspect of being a professional. I was able to adapt to a setting that requires the organization to accomplish projects and goals.

Besides organization, I worked on analyzing mammograms for researchers to use. My main task was to verify that each mammogram was clean to use for researchers and doctors to analyze. This meant I had to check that all patient information was removed and that the image is exposed well. Mammograms that fit all the requirements are labeled as "Gold" while images that have any defects or excess information are sent back in Opal as either "Burned data" or "Cannot open" "Not mammogram" or "Other error". Images that fail to be "Gold" usually have patient information still on them or are too exposed where the breast cannot be viewed.

I really enjoyed this project because I learned what makes a mammogram good and what researchers look for. Reviewing mammograms has struck an interest in radiology within me. As a future health professional, I think it is very important to be exposed to different areas such as radiology. It is fascinating to learn about different tools that assess in our health and diagnosis.

While reviewing mammograms, I learned about patient confidentiality. I understand and respect the amount of security that is put in to protect patients from unnecessary eyes. Working with mammograms has shown me the importance of how valuable and important data is.

The Tyrer-Cuzick assessment tool determines the risk of developing breast cancer within a 10-year and lifetime period. This tool allows me to take the information our donors provide us and calculate their risk of developing breast cancer in the future. The key components to calculating this risk are family history of breast and ovarian cancer, height, weight, age of period, age of post-menopause, age of first live birth, BRCA Gene testing, and breast biopsy.

Working through a number of scores I have learned how factors in genetics play an important role in developing breast cancer. I come from a family where my mom, aunts, and grandmother all developed breast cancer or ovarian cancer. This tool has shown me how I can be impacted and may have a high risk of developing breast cancer in the future. Seeing the risk rates I have calculated surprised me. There is no set rate for anyone, rather the factors influence a high or low-risk rate.

While working on this project, I felt a connection to all these donors. The impact breast cancer has on all our families motivates a lot of us to help in cancer research. As a professional, I grew by finding that connection that I hope to have with my patients. This feeling is the sole motivator to wake up and stay focused on the road ahead.