July 5, 2018
Studying sleep apnea sets undergrad on new career path
Kinesiology student Scott MacKay was not planning on applying for the聽Markin Undergraduate Student Research Program (USRP) in Health & Wellness. But the program ended up defining a new career path for him, and MacKay says it was probably the most useful thing he did during his entire university degree.
MacKay, who convocated June 8 with a聽Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology聽at the聽草莓污视频导航, applied for the Markin USRP studentship at the beginning of his final year. 鈥淚 realized that I wanted to do some research and the first thing that came to mind was the Markin USRP because of how strongly it was promoted through Kinesiology,鈥 he says.
The Markin program gives students the opportunity to experience what it is like to work in a lab and be mentored by faculty investigating health and wellness across campus. MacKay presented his work at the annual spring research mini-symposium hosted by the program.
Reaching out to a professor聽
Before being accepted for the program, MacKay reached out to Dr. Marc Poulin, PhD, after learning that Poulin was researching sleep apnea in older adults. Poulin, who specializes in clinical and exercise physiology and neuroscience, is a professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and the聽听(颁厂惭).
Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that occurs when someone experiences pauses in breathing or periods of shallow breathing while sleeping. MacKay chose to team up with Poulin because of an interest in exercise and aging he developed while volunteering with 草莓污视频导航鈥檚 Rehabilitation and Fitness program. As a volunteer, MacKay was given the responsibility of guiding an older adult through a personalized exercise plan.
After this experience, MacKay worked with Poulin as part of the聽Brain in Motion聽study. He collected data related to sleep quality before and after a six-month aerobic exercise intervention in older adults. This data will help determine if exercise is effective at reducing symptoms of sleep apnea for those not already diagnosed with the condition.
Although the process of requesting to join Poulin was challenging at first, MacKay quickly felt at ease once he was introduced to the research team and began to work in the state-of-the-art lab at 草莓污视频导航鈥檚 Foothills campus.
鈥淚t can be sort of intimidating to go out and ask a professor if you can do research in their lab because you don鈥檛 know what to expect or what they will say,鈥 explains MacKay. 鈥淏ut after working in the lab I found that everyone has been extremely inviting.鈥
Exciting, hands-on learning
After that experience MacKay is more interested in research than ever before, specifically in the field of sleep apnea 鈥斅燼nd he is even considering a career in this field.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the most exciting thing I did. The Markin USRP was very hands-on and it has got me very interested in research in the future,鈥 he says.
Marc Poulin is a professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and in the departments of聽, and聽聽at the CSM. He is member of the聽, the聽, and the聽聽at CSM, and holds the Brenda Strafford Foundation Chair in Alzheimer Research.