Project: Use of Medication Score and Seizure Score in Ketogenic Therapy

As a member of the KetoGator team, I am currently a KetoBuddy to two patients. I track their seizure activity, diet prescription, anthropometrics, and labs. I keep in touch with my patients and their families through phone calls, emails, and clinic visits to track their progress on the diet.  My goal is to provide a strong support system and do anything I can to help improve their quality of life while on the Ketogenic therapy. My role from a clinical research standpoint includes gathering information and data from my patients at their clinic visits, and reviewing it to make assessments in order to present the progress of my KetoBuddies at team meetings, chart rounds and clinic conferences.

Other Roles: Interview Officer, Personnel Officer, and Drug Database

Semester Joined: Summer 2007

Major: Dietetics

Future Plans: Medical school

Project: Advanced Ketogenic Therapy Education for Caregivers

As a member of the KetoGator team, I am responsible for data collection and entry of our patients and I will soon be responsible for a new initiate. I am also responsible for education material for caregivers during pre-initiation education, and as an archiving officer, I also help to archive previous patient folders. My current project involves improving education for caregivers.

Other Roles: KetoCarn, Education and Archive Officer

Semester Joined: Fall 2007

Major: Nutritional Sciences

Future Plans: Graduate School/Law School

Project: Online Tools for Administration of Ketogenic Therapy

I am a co-captain for the KetoGator team as well as a KetoBuddy to 3 patients. As a member of the KetoGator team, I am also proudly apart of a support system for all of our patients. I attend clinic every Tuesday and help keep track of seizure data, anthropometrics, diet prescription, and labs, as well as enter these data into a database to be analyzed. I am also apart of several subgroups within our team to help constantly improve patient care. Within these groups I am responsible for helping to give presentations to new patients on the Ketogenic Therapy, working with other website officers to improve and update the website, working with other members to improve patient communication and care, and updating the food database. As a personal project, I am in the process of creating meal equivalent tools that will help make it more convenient for caregivers to give their child the healthiest and yummiest meal possible. These tools include a recipe book, a guide to healthy fats, and a hints & tricks section on how to make portions look larger, hiding oils, and making food fun.

Other Roles: Website Officer, Education, Hardware/Software Officer, Food Database, KetoCarn, and Team Co-Captain

Semester Joined: Fall 2007

Major: Psychology

Future Plans: Nursing School- NP

Project: Relationship of Seizure Score to Diet Prescription

I joined the team Fall 2007 and am currently a KetoBuddy to one patient. I contact my patient on a weekly basis to monitor her progress on the diet and stay updated on any issues. I also work on the Drug Database for the Ketogator Team, which involves collecting carbohydrate content for many medications our patients are on. This is important because the content may potentially be calculated into our patient diet prescriptions to further improve seizure control.

Other Roles: Interview Officer, Drug Database

Semester Joined: Fall 2007

Major: Microbiology and Cell Science

Future Plans: Medical School

Project: Development of Seizure Score for Use in Ketogenic Therapy

I joined the KetoGators in Fall 2007. I am currently KetoBuddy to one pediatric epileptic patient, but will be receiving three more patients. I serve as a liaison between the medical staff and patient family. My tasks involve keeping in touch with the patient, tracking and analyzing how the patient is doing on the Ketogenic Therapy, and to support the family with administering the therapy. I track my patient’s seizure activity, daily urinary ketone levels, anthropometrics, and diet prescription. I attend clinic conference, a weekly meeting in which Dr. Borum, our neurologists, dietitian and nurse practitioner as well as the KetoGators come together to discuss our patients. As a newsletter officer, I combine the articles written by fellow KetoGators and format the KetoGator Connection newsletter, which is mailed to the patient families quarterly to keep the families updated on the Ketogenic Therapy and other topics involving their children. As website officer, I help keep the website updated with the latest information for patient families to access. We are currently working to updating and adding the food database onto the website, as well as the quarterly newsletters. For the Investigators, I am an IG performance officer to track the members weekly hours and attendance. I am also a member of KetoCarn, a group composed of Ketogators and Carnitine members that focuses on the scientific aspect of the therapy.

Other Roles: Newsletter and Supplemental Guide, Website Officer

Semester Joined: Fall 2007

Major: Microbiology & Cell Science

Future Plans: Medical School

I am a sophomore Microbiology and Cell Science major and I am excited to have recently joined The InvestiGators. As a new member to the KetoGator team, I am working on introductory training and learning. In the future, I hope to help educate the patients and families on the ketogenic diet and join the KetoCarn group. My overall goal is to improve the lives of these patients on the Ketogenic Therapy to the best of my abilities.

Semester Joined: Spring 2008

Major: Microbiology and Cell Science

Future Plans: Medical School

Project: Role of Protein and Carbohydrate in Ketogenic Therapy

I joined the KetoGator team Fall 2007, and am currently the Ketobuddy to two patients. My role as a Ketobuddy is to care and provide for my patients by tracking their seizure activity, anthropometrics, diet prescriptions, labs, and overall progression on the Ketogenic Therapy. I provide support for the families and compile information through constant contact via phone, e-mail, and their clinic visits at Shands Hospital. After obtaining and analyzing information about their progress, I create assessments that I present to our team and that will further be presented to our hospital staff to be used in the care of my patients. I am also involved in KetoCarn, a subgroup that investigates deeper into data correlations and presents weekly journal articles pertaining to the Ketogenic Therapy. I am also responsible for the analysis of the therapy component of KT by working on diet recall data from our patients. Another role I have on the team is helping collect and maintain our food database system, which contains nutrition facts about all the foods used by our patients, and provides a web accessible version that our patient’s families can use as well.  

Other Roles: KetoCarn and Food Database

Semester Joined: Fall 2007

Major: Biochemistry and Nutritional Sciences

Future Plans: Medical school

I am a sophomore Biochemistry major, and a new member to the KetoGator team. I am currently in the training process, working on introductory readings and helping to prepare patients for clinic. I am looking forward to being a KetoBuddy for some patients and to help analyze data for the team.

Semester Joined: Spring 2008

Major: Biochemistry

Future Plans: Medical School

Project: Ketogenic Therapy Introductory Education for Caregivers and for Health Care Professionals

My name is Huma Razzaq and I have been a member of the Ketogator team for almost two years. As a member of the Ketogator team I am responsible for maintaining contact and monitoring the progress of patients on the Ketogenic Therapy program at Shands. I do this by preparing clinic documents for my patients, attending weekly chart rounds, entering patient information into a database, and calling patients on a weekly basis. In addition to this, I am responsible for Pre-Initiation/Initiation education, clinic bag preparation, food database, and training. I am also part of the Ketocarn group in which we discuss the science behind the diet in conjunction with members from the Carnitine team. I really enjoy being a member of this team because it gives me the opportunity to gain insight into a unique therapy while working with dedicated professionals towards the common goal of improving patient care.

Other Roles: Education, IRB and Biohazard Officers

Semester Joined: Summer 2006

Major: Microbiology and Cell Science

Future Plans: Medical School

Project: Use of AEDs as a Measure of Efficacy in Epileptic Patients on Ketogenic Therapy

As a co-captain of the KetoGator team, I am KetoBuddy to three patients. For these three patients, I present their medical history to the team at our Thursday chart rounds. After compiling data from their clinic visits such as lab values, anthropometrics, seizure data, Gastrointestinal issues, ketones and specific gravity, diet prescription, and medications, I create a Comprehensive Epilepsy Form with graphs to track their progress on the Ketogenic Therapy. In addition, I keep in contact with my patients’ families through phone calls between their clinic visits, trying my best to help with any concerns or questions they might have. In addition to my patient responsibilities, I am involved in several groups such as KetoCarn and Thesis. In KetoCarn, I learn more about the scientific research aspect of the Ketogenic Therapy by reading and discussing articles. I am also working on a thesis project that involves looking at the anti-epileptic medication score and ketogenic therapy and their effects on several factors, such as growth and seizures. I also spend a lot of time entering in data for the prospective and retrospective database.

Other Roles: KetoCarn, Thesis, Education, HIPPA Officer, and Team Co-Captain

Semester Joined: Spring 2006

Major: Integrative Biology

Future Plans: Medical School

Becoming a member of the KetoGator Team has given me the opportunity to become the KetoBuddy for a few of our pediatric epilepsy patients. I am looking forward to working one on one with patients, nurses, pediatric neurologist and other members of the clinic staff. As a KetoBuddy, I provide a means of communication between all the above named parties, and I monitor the patient through weekly calls and attendance to all clinic visits. I am able to develop a very unique and personal relationship with the patient and their family.

Semester Joined: Spring 2008

Major: Psychology and Spanish

Future Plans: Pediatric Ophthalmologist

Project: Ketogenic Therapy Education and Patient Support via A Quarterly Newsletter

As a member of the KetoGator team, I am a KetoBuddy to several patients whom I keep in contact with through emails, phone calls, and clinic visits. One of my main roles is to care for and support my patients who are on Ketogenic Therapy by gathering data about seizures, diet prescriptions, and medications. The data I receive is inputted into Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and analyzed; and in order to track their progress on the therapy, I create assessments about their progress and present them to Dr. Borum and the team during weekly team meetings. In addition to my KetoBuddy responsibilities, I am currently also involved with drug database, in which I am helping to update the database with the most current and recent product information, especially the carbohydrate content of all medications, AEDs, and supplements our patients use. In addition, as an Archiving officer, one of my tasks is to organize and archive patient information periodically to keep patient care efficient. One other way of I am able to provide support to the families is through the newsletter that is sent to our patient several times a year. This newsletter provides information and helpful tips about the therapy that help make it easier for our patients

Other Roles: Newsletter, Archive Officer and Team Co-Captain

Semester Joined: Summer 2007

Major: Microbiology and Cell Science

Future Plans: Medical School