By Jennifer Kohlhepp, Staff Writer
PLAINSBORO — She’s accomplished more than most students before they graduate high school or even college and she’s only 16.
Erika Mehta, a junior at High School North, is a co-author on a paper in the 2014 spring issue of the Drexel University Medical Journal, entitled, "A Preliminary Retrospective Study of the Epidemiological Characteristics of Pediatric Iron Deficiency Anemia in a Large Well Child Clinic in New Brunswick."
The study assessed the epidemiological features of children who were most vulnerable to the adverse neurocognitive effect of iron deficiency/anemia in a large urban New Jersey well-child clinic.
For the study, Erika was involved in a summer research program at Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick.
"I did data collection and looked at the charts of 50 patients to do the retrospective study," Erika said. "I looked at particular information, such as hemoglobin and ethnicity."
The results of the study indicated that mostly males less than the age of 2, approximately 21 months old, who are Hispanic fell subject to pediatric iron deficiency, according to Erika.
Erika said a surprise result of the study was that children who were overweight and not skinny or underweight were those with iron deficiencies.
"It’s likely due to the amount of junk food they eat," she said. "They’re not eating foods rich in iron like spinach and kale."
Erika said having the paper published was fascinating.
"I never thought it would happen," she said. "To me all of this was just a dream."
Erika worked on the research project over the last year, mostly on weekends.
She’s on the varsity swim team and wakes up early to be in the pool by 5 a.m. every weekday morning. Then she goes to school and she’s back in the pool by 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. and gets home around 7 p.m.
In addition to the work on the publication, she also has traveled to Africa with an autism awareness group. The purpose of the trip was to further train individuals, such as teachers, parents and health professionals, how to effectively identify and work with a person with special needs.
"I went to Ghana last year in August for 10 days with My Goal: My Gateway to Overcoming Autism In Life," she said. "I got involved because of Dr. Genevieve Kumapley. Her son has autism and I wanted to help raise money and spread awareness of autism and special needs. Through her foundation, I asked her if I could accompany her in Ghana. I wanted to help and I wanted to get experience outside of the United States."
She traveled to different universities and met with chancellors and held conferences for teachers, doctors, bankers where she helped provide information on how to diagnose children with special needs and autism.
"People there are not educated and they are not diagnosing correctly," she said.
The foundation is also building a small school in Ghana for children with special needs and Erika helped break ground for the institution. Then they broke down into smaller conferences and met with people that could make contributions to the school.
"In the United States we are so fortunate," she said. "In Ghana there is such a large amount of poverty there it’s detrimental."
She also visited a "slave castle," which left a gigantic impression on her mind. In the castle, which was designed to mimic heaven and earth, the rich had rooms to themselves the size of dungeons where hundreds of slaves were kept.
"There were markings on the wall where the feces and urine levels went up to," she said.
One of the worst things she learned was that female slaves hoped to be raped to get pregnant so they would be taken out of the dungeons.
"On the positive side, I journeyed to different schools," she said. "But even within the colleges there was so much politics," she said. "In the arts section there were spiders crawling on the desks and the engineering section was filled with leather chairs."
She said college tuition costs $250 per year there.
"That’s nothing compared to what it is in the U.S.," she said.
Basically, the trip made her thankful for what she has but made her want to return to Ghana in the future. She would also like to go to India to help in a clinic this summer or next summer.
Besides swimming, Erika also volunteers at Saint Peter’s University Hospital, serves as a lifeguard and runs track. She plans to take two courses at Brown University over the summer and wants to train to become an Emergency Medical Technician this year.
Erika said she plans to go to a seven-year medical program at Brown University, where she will study to become a cardiothoracic surgeon.
"I like helping people and I’m not scared of blood," she said. "I’m interested in having new patients and cases every day."
When asked what she attributes her success to, she said, "My family supports me. Without my mom, none of this would have been possible. My dad supports me too. Although there’s a lot of costs involved, through everything they have supported me."
She also said learning time management and how to be flexible has helped her succeed in many areas of life.
To read the paper she co-authored, visit www.drexelmed.edu/drexel-pdf/drexel-med-journal/drexel-med-journal-2014-Spring.pdf. The paper starts on page 48.
