LILIANA (LILY) WOLAK
MD Candidate (2024) | University of British Columbia
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Student Feedback
"[Lily's] warm & agreeable disposition allows us to engage & answer questions without any pressure"
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"[Lily is] good at taking very complex matters & breaking them down into a simpler way to understand them"
"[Lily] explains things clearly and tries her best to make sure we all understand the material presented to us"
"[Lily is] able to explain concepts in a very clear manner (sometimes better than professor)"
BHSc Research Projects
The Efficacy of Extended Reality Systems in Anatomical Education
Supervisor: Dr. Bruce Wainman
McMaster University
Hamilton, ON / Oct. 2017 - Aug. 2018
This project was my 4th year thesis project, to which I dedicated half of my yearly course credits.
Due to the recent exponential advancements in computer technologies, Extended-Reality (XR) systems are those that alter cause a computer-mediated change in the users perceived reality. Such models include the Microsoft HoloLens, which is a Mixed Reality system, and the HTC Vive, which is a Virtual Reality system.
These systems create convincing models, and as such have sparked interest has educational materials.However, the efficacy of these models had not been previously tested quantitatively, thus their feasibility as educational models was unknown,
Utilizing previous protocol, our group conducted a well controlled study within an optimal environment for both the Mixed Reality and Virtual Reality models. We found that these systems do not make models effective enough to replace physical models
Mechanisms Underlying Model Efficacy in Anatomical Education
Supervisor: Dr. Bruce Wainman
McMaster University
Hamilton, ON / Sept. 2016 - Oct. 2017
I began this project at the beginning of my 3rd year, working on it throughout the year as well as the summer.
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This study was the continuation of a series of studies exploring the best models to use in anatomical education. Previous studies had quantitatively found that physical models are superior, and as such, we chose to explore the mechanism underlying this superiority. This eventually lead our group to consider stereoscopic vision, which is the ability to perceive depth and 3D space. We conducted a series of studies involving the removal of stereopsis compared to a control, and found stereopsis to be a key component of the success of a model.
My work in this lab was my first formal introduction to research. I began the summer after my 2nd year, working as a research assistant to one of the PhD candidate.
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In the context of diabetic nephropathy, damage to the kidney results in thickening of the basement membrane within the glomeruli. The glomeruli play key role in the production of urine through blood filtration. As such, thickening of the basement membrane impairs the filtration of blood, resulting in excess waste products within the blood. To address this, the research project focused on the protective effects of Follistatin, novel protein, on basement membrane thickness of the glomeruli in mouse models ofdiabetic nephropathy.
Supervisor: Dr. Joan Krepinsky
Hamilton Centre for Kidney Research
Hamilton, ON / May 2016 - Aug. 2016