Edison/Fareira Students Study Forensic Medicine

Edison/Fareira High School students spent a fruitful summer involved in a mentoring program sponsored by The Fredric Rieders Family Renaissance Foundation. Aita Harmon and Arnita Hill along with their teacher/mentor, Mrs. Veresta Hyman, attended the program at the Forensics Mentors Institute in Willow Grove, PA. The program focused on teaching through research, academic instruction and support of scientific and humanistic activities.
Aita, Arnita and Mrs. Hyman along with ten other local students and five teacher/mentors were divided into six groups. Each group was assigned a project for the eight-week session. The summer projects were Quantification of Amiodarone in Heart Tissue; Stabilization of Cyanide Solutions; Determination of Aspartame - Derived Formaldehyde; GHB/GBL Detection in Beverages, Kava Kava Analytical Patterns; and Selenium and Hair Morphology using Scanning and Electron Microscopy.

The teachers and students were mentored by Dr. Fredric Rieders, Director of the Institute, scientists from National Medical Services, Inc. and graduate student mentors and professors. The mentors included Militza Ausmanas, Jeegar Patel and Monique Hopkinson, MCP Hahnemann University; Catherine Bentzley, Ph.D., University of the Sciences of Philadelphia; Laura Madrid, Ph.D., National Medical Services; and Gene Moldavchuk, Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. G. John DiGregorio, M.D., Ph.D., Professor at Hahnemann Hospital Medical School worked daily as the academic advisor while Dr. Rieders worked with the students and teachers in the area of scientific research.

The students gained first hand experiences with the use of the following analytical instruments/procedures: Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy, Thin Layer Chromatography, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and HPLC - High Performance Liquid Chromatography.

Students, Aita and Arnita, felt that the summer experiences were valuable and of great assistance in giving them a better understanding and appreciation for the sciences, especially chemistry and physics. Dr. José Lebrón, Edison/Fareira principal, has pledged his full support to the program.