Neurology residents offering virtual field trip into the brain

Isha Snehal, MBBS, Kanchan Kumari, MD, and Zaid Najdawi, MD

A group of UNMC neurology residents are offering Nebraska students a field trip into the human brain.

For the Nebraska 4-H program’s virtual field trips series, residents Isha Snehal, MBBS, Kanchan Kumari, MD, and Zaid Najdawi, MD, worked with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Nebraska Extension to create a video on brain issues around epilepsy, stroke and concussions.

The series is geared toward Nebraska high school students and originally was established during the pandemic to offer engaging virtual experiences in STEM and ag-related fields, said Sarah Paisley, an associate educator with Nebraska Extension based out of Garden and Morrill Counties.

The program reached out to the UNMC Department of Neurological Sciences, hoping to show the complexity of the brain and what happens after a trauma.

Click Play below to see the video titled, “Neurology – What’s Going on with My Brain?”

Dr. Snehal said awareness of strokes, epilepsy and concussions is important because of the large number of people they affect. Not only have many high school students heard or experienced those issues in different ways, they also could learn how to help if those problems happen around them, she said.

“The hope is that the outreach can educate and create awareness about these issues among as many kids as possible,” Dr. Snehal said, “and they can use some of the tips when they do find themselves in a situation to help others.”

Paisley said the video also highlights some great neurological studies going on right here in Nebraska at UNMC.

If students are interested in health care as a career, it allows them to explore an area they could pursue, Paisley said. If it wasn’t an area of interest before, she said, the field trip exposes them to UNMC and neurology for the future.