DIFFERENT
S
TROK
E
S
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ALUMNA ADVOCATES EDUCATION AND EARLY DETECTION TO SAVE STROKE VICTIMS, YOUNG AND OLD.
Written by STEVEN K. WAGNER
or most people, stroke is a conversation damper. “It’s very exciting.”
Not so for Jennifer J. Majersik ’92. In fact, stroke Majersik’s interest in medicine developed later than usual:
is her passion. after graduating from HMC with a degree in physics, she en-
Majersik, assistant professor of neurology at the Univer- listed in the Air Force and discovered medicine somewhat by
sity of Utah School of Medicine, spends considerable time accident.
researching stroke—the blockage of an artery or blood ves- “While serving as a physicist, I started shadowing physi-
sel to the brain—and treating its effects. She even installed cians and found that I really enjoyed it,” she said. “I appreci-
telestroke cameras in her home and office to enable remote ated their ability to make a difference, in the short term with
evaluation of suspected stroke patients. patients and in the long term with research.”
“If someone is believed to be having a stroke and is taken Majersik left the service in 1996 and entered the Univer-
to a hospital in a remote part of the state, the emergency sity of Vermont College of Medicine, earning her medical
physician there can call me, and I will examine the patient degree in 2001.
using the camera,” Majersik said. “I help that doctor decide “Mudd taught me how to study and how to focus on a
whether it’s a stroke and how to treat the patient.” task at hand,” she said, adding, “I was the only person in my
An accomplished clinician, she also focuses on research. A medical school class who thought med school was easier than
primary interest is stroke genetics, and Majersik is participat- college.”
ing in an international investigation examining a familial trig- Research has given her a fair share of challenges. Among
ger believed to cause strokes affecting young people: tearing her other research interests is atypical symptoms of stroke in
of the neck artery. She and her colleagues also are collecting women. Earlier this year, she co-authored an article that iden-
blood from every stroke patient who enters their emergency tified a high prevalence of “altered mental status” in women
department. By extracting genetic material, they hope to more during stroke onset. Recognition of that sometimes-subtle
thoroughly study the link between stroke and genetics—work symptom could help identify strokes sooner, enabling faster
that could someday lead to stroke prediction and prevention. treatment and preventing severe debilitation.
“In essence, we’re developing a stroke bio-bank,” she said. “I certainly bring that information back to the emergency
24 Harvey Mudd College SUMMER 2009 FALL/WINTER 2009
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