Senior Natalie Kubicki completed her Capstone project after she attended a residential program at the Governor’s School for Medicine and the Health Sciences held at Virginia Commonwealth University this past summer.
“My favorite part of the program was the week of shadowing professors. On day four I studied Nephrology, the study of kidneys. This experience sparked my interest in a topic for my Capstone project: Lupus,” said Natalie.
Lupus affects the immune system and attacks its own tissues. The two types of Lupus Natalie focused her presentation on were DLE, which affects the skin and causes a butterfly face rash, and SLE, which affects the internal organs. For her final product, she created a case study about a patient with Lupus.
“I focused this case study around Lupus because I want to raise more awareness for the disease,” said Natalie.
Natalie plans on pursuing a career in the medical field in the future.
“This experience helped me grow so much as a learner and gain more experience in a professional environment,” said Natalie.