Caddo Parish Magnet High School senior Sunjay Letchuman, a student of BRF and LSU Health Shreveport’s Science and Medicine Academic Research Training (SMART) program, placed first in the 2018 Louisiana Junior Science and Humanities Symposium and will attend the 2018 National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Hunt Valley, MD May 2-5.

Letchuman will compete with oral presentation.

Letchuman investigated the failure of vein grafts during Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG), the most common open-heart surgery performed in the United States.

During the surgery, the vein is stressed in many ways, and his project explores how the stress the vein experiences may lead to vein graft failure.

He thanks his mentor, Dr. Christopher Patillo, of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Dr. Bandana Shrestha, Dr. Vyas Rao and Priya Prasai of University Health Shreveport and LSU Health Shreveport.

The Junior Science and Humanities Symposia program is jointly sponsored by the United States Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, in cooperation with leading research universities throughout the nation.

Forty-eight regional symposia are affiliated with the JSHS program, reaching over 10,000 high school students and teachers throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and in the Department of Defense Dependents Schools, Europe and Pacific Rim regions.

The university sponsored symposia invite the participation of secondary schools within their regions.

The National JSHS brings together over 360 participants, including 240 high school students, their teachers and parents, university faculty affiliated with the JSHS, and other guests.

Caddo Magnet has sent 41 students to the national symposium over the past 19 years.

This year two other Caddo Magnet High School students, Xiang Tang and Grace Sun, placed third and fifth. Tang and Sun will compete with posters.

Click here to read more about Sunjay Letchuman’s project.

Click here to learn more about BRF’s EdVentures programs.