LAS VEGAS -- There were 50 VIPs at this year's Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine pregnancy meeting today. They were not ob/gyns or physician leaders, but rather students from a local high school.
The students attended the meeting as part of a special effort by SMFM to help educate and "give back" to the Las Vegas community where the meeting will be held for the next 3 out of 5 years.
These efforts were led by Brian Iriye, MD, a Las Vegas ob/gyn in private practice and an SMFM board member and local meeting chair.
"I thought to myself 'instead of just going to these towns, why don't we leave our mark on the town by making it better as well?'" said Iriye. "I think a lot of people don't realize when they're in medicine is that many healthcare professionals in the medical world are leaders, and they have to look at their role in affecting other people's lives, even outside of medicine."
Iriye's interest in the subject may have partially stemmed from his personal background: Both his parents were in Japanese internment camps during World War II, and neither attended college for more than a year. He recognized that his mother, "the smartest one in the family," didn't have those chances or opportunities.
"I think our society is concerned with these pervasive and disproportionate racial, ethnic, and economic disparities in healthcare and leadership positions within healthcare," he said. "We are conscious of social factors that lead to inequality, and we wanted to do something about it."
For Iriye, who has been a maternal-fetal medicine specialist in Las Vegas for over 20 years, high schools were a natural place to start -- especially as the city does not yet have a medical school. After contacting several high schools, he identified Rancho High School, which has a medical "magnet school" for kids interested in careers in healthcare.
Rancho High School in Las Vegas has approximately 3,250 students, 70% of whom are Hispanic, with 30% of graduating seniors attending 4-year colleges. The magnet program consists of 750 students, who have to apply for admission. They take one medical elective per year -- starting out with health overview courses as freshmen and sophomores and moving to more specialized fields as upperclassmen, such as sports medicine, forensic pathology, and a biomedical program.
The 50 students attending the SMFM meeting were all upperclassmen selected by their teachers. Two students were each matched with an SMFM clinician mentor, who took them around the meeting.
"This is such a wonderful opportunity for the students, who are interested in learning as much as they can," said Jennifer Haas, magnet coordinator at Rancho High School. "Just to have the opportunity to make connections, and realize that medical practices will change because of research they saw presented here."
To prepare for the meeting, students received simplified versions of the plenary session presentations, and Iriye even attached YouTube clips for additional context. Students also had to pick three posters that interested them, and develop questions about them -- which they could ask at the poster session.
"The main goal is I want them to feel like they could actually be here, because a lot of them don't have this opportunity -- and maybe we affect two kids or five kids -- and get them thinking that there's a place for them in science and healthcare, and that they could easily be a part of that," said Iriye.
The visit certainly had the desired effect on David Guerin, 17, of Las Vegas, who was already interested in this particular field: "I've always wanted to be an ob/gyn and it kind of confirmed my ideas of how it is and what to learn, and influenced me for what to do in the future," he said.
Mari Toumaian, 18, also of Las Vegas, said she was able to learn how people come together throughout the whole research process.
"It shows how extensive their research is and how patient they have to be and how they have to come up with things on their feet," she said.
Toumaian also endorsed the idea of more doctors coming to schools, and giving students the ability to ask them questions.
"They don't have to be one-on-one conferences, but giving us the ability to sit down and listen to their research and get answers to things we are really curious about," she added. "I think that would be amazing."
Haas said that it's always a great opportunity for students to hear doctors sharing their personal experience, especially for underprivileged or minority students.
"It's such a good connection for the students to see that it's possible for them," she said. "Students making that connection and hearing stories that they can relate to -- it makes a huge difference for them."
Iriye's efforts are part of a larger community outreach program at this year's SMFM meeting. On Saturday, four SMFM clinicians are holding free sessions for Las Vegas healthcare professionals to learn about such cutting-edge topics in the ob/gyn field, such as Zika virus and cell-free DNA screening.
But Iriye said he sees these initiatives as simply a way of showing how clinicians can be leaders in the community -- and how they can "leave their mark" on the cities they visit for these meetings.
"I would like medical societies to have outreach in each area of the United States when they go there," he said. "When you're going to bring this much intellectual capital into a town, it would be beautiful if some of that rubs off on the community that you're visiting."