February 11, 2021
How do dinosaurs, alligators and astronauts relate to COVID, and what else do they have in common? Women, of course. Not just any women. Women scientists. LSU Health New Orleans women scientists, to be precise. LSU Health New Orleans celebrates its female faculty and students this International Day of Women and Girls in Science. They are an accomplished bunch who have made enormous contributions to science and health. They are role models for little girls everywhere, for they have shattered glass ceilings and have risen as national and international leaders to lofty heights, and beyond. They include:Leslie Capo
Office: 504-568-4806
Cell: 504-452-9166
lcapo@lsuhsc.edu
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From the Space Station to the COVID Ward
“I’m doing absolutely one of my favorite things, which is teaching residents and medical students. Being academic medicine faculty is one of the most, if not the most important things to me. I love being part of the critical years of a residency program where I get to take part in the shaping and molding of young physicians. That’s what I wanted to return to.”
Dr. Auñón-Chancellor, who is still also a NASA astronaut, was assigned to the COVID floor at LSU Health’s teaching hospital in Baton Rouge. “It was probably the most memorable internal medicine inpatient service I’ve ever been on. It was hard. At the peak in the spring, we had over 200 patients at our hospital, a lot in the ICU, a good number on ventilators. I think the toughest part was that because the families couldn’t be with the patients as much as they normally can, we were their families. So, we spent a lot of time certainly talking to the families on the phone, but also spending time with the patients letting them know we were there for them. It made medicine more meaningful, and it was something that definitely impacted you emotionally, impacted the team. It comes back to one of our NASA teaching lessons – self-care and team care. I felt like we were performing a tremendous service and fulfilling a sense of purpose. I’m so happy that our LSU Health Internal Medicine Residency Program has taken part in that. I think it’s important for the faculty and really important for the residents. Hopefully, pandemics come around only once a century, but this one is ours, and the number of teaching lessons that come out of this is tremendous. You walk away, and I think everyone has walked away as a different physician.”NASA used part of that quote on a huge display at Space Center Houston. Called Mission: Control the Spread, it features astronaut Dr. Auñón-Chancellor now as an LSU Health academic physician drawing on her NASA experience to take care of patients, as well as her residents -- all the way from the International Space Station to the COVID Ward.