For his third co-op, Octavio Escamilla-Sanchez ’17 joined the hardworking team at Northshore University HealthSystem as a Research Assistant, working alongside Dr. Sanborn and Dr. Chehab. Located in a suburb just north of Chicago, Northshore University HealthSystem works to provide patients the best care possible, while also having a strong commitment to researching new medical treatments and performing various medical trials. As a Research Assistant, Octavio was tasked with analyzing data and compiling his findings into presentations that helped argue the benefits of the program/solutions for reducing sugar consumption developed by the doctors. “Dr. Sanborn has worked with Dr. Chehab who has created a program called the Sugar Show. This program is meant to educate the students of what is too much sugar. The program avoids using the words fat or obese, and just focuses on the negative health affects.” As a part of the program, surveys are taken, collecting data on student sugar intake, BMI, and other factors. Octavio’s role was to analyze the data collected from the surveys, calculate percentages for obesity levels, healthy weight levels, and more. All of his hard work came to fruition when he had the opportunity to present his findings to the Evanston Town Ship High School’s wellness committee.
*excerpts taken from Octavio’s blog assignment
