2023 KTU Session 3

March 18, 2023

Microcirulation

An Interactive Session led by Dr. Helena Carvalho

Associate Professor, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (VTSOM), in the Department of Basic Science Education

Dr. Helena Carvalho is an Associate Professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (VTCSOM), in the Department of Basic Science Education. Dr. Carvalho has a BS, MA and PhD in physiology from the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and a post-doc in microcirculation from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is an educator with 25 years of experience teaching all levels of students. Currently, Dr. Carvalho teaches human physiology to medical students and directs two blocks in Basic Science for first-year medical students at VTCSOM.  

We know we need to eat to grow up and cannot survive without oxygen. Did you ever wonder how the oxygen that you breathe, the food that you eat or the water that you drink end up in all the different parts of your body? You might know that oxygen is in the air that flows into our lungs when we breathe, and that food and water enter the stomach and intestines after we eat and drink, but do you know what happens next?

In this session, Dr. Carvalho will explain the importance of the blood vessels, and how oxygen, food, and water travel with the blood to everywhere in your body. Did you know that there are different types of blood vessels? Large blood vessels that take the blood fast to all your organs are called arteries, and large blood vessels that take the blood back to the heart are called veins. What most people do not know is that inside all of our organs, blood cells travel one by one through tiny blood vessels called capillaries that connect the arteries to the veins. These tiny blood vessels are so small that you need a microscope to see them, and that is why they are called microscopic blood vessels, or microcirculation. And although they are too small to be seen by the naked eye, they have a combined length of more than 60,000 miles long, which is enough to circle the world two and a half times! Our health depends on microcirculation and you will have the opportunity to see it in action at this interactive session!