Weeks 7 and 8

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog!

Over the past two weeks, I have continued making progress on my research project and final paper. During the first week, I focused mainly on organizing my ideas and beginning the writing process for my final research paper. I started drafting several of my background paragraphs to build a strong foundation for the rest of the paper. In these sections, I explained what Alzheimer’s disease is, including how it affects the brain, memory, and behavior over time. I also researched and wrote about the relationship between smell and the neurological pathways involved in processing scents. Learning about how the olfactory system connects directly to parts of the brain associated with memory and emotion was especially interesting because it helps explain why changes in smell may be linked to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Writing these background sections helped me better understand my topic and prepared me to begin discussing more detailed research later in the paper.

During the second week, I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Omura and also interview Dr. Ko Hanada, a geriatric fellow at Mount Sinai. This experience was extremely valuable because it allowed me to hear directly from someone working in the medical field with older patients and neurodegenerative diseases. I prepared seven questions for Dr. Hanada, and he answered each one honestly, thoughtfully, and with a lot of insight. He discussed his experiences working with elderly patients, the challenges of diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s disease, and the importance of early detection and research. Hearing his perspective gave me a much deeper understanding of the real-world impact of Alzheimer’s disease beyond what I have read in academic articles. His responses provided important information and personal insight that I can include in both my final research paper and my presentation. I think incorporating expert opinions alongside scientific research will make my project stronger and more meaningful.