Internship Alum Interviews: Padmini Konidena

Dec 12

This post is part of a series of interviews with past interns about how Concussion Alliance impacted their lives going forward. This interview follows up with Padmini Konidena, who is currently a junior biology major at Carleton College. To learn more, see Padmini Konidena’s profile page. This interview was conducted by Ella Gullickson, a sophomore history major at Carleton College, as part of her December 2023 Internship. See Ella’s profile.

Ella Gullickson:

Hi, I am Ella Gullickson. I am here interviewing Padmini. She is a past intern for Concussion Alliance. So, Padmini, if you want to introduce yourself a little bit, that would be great.

Padmini Konidena:

Yeah, so I'm Padmini, she/her. I did a summer internship at Concussion Alliance last summer, and it was really great. Got a lot of fun information about concussions, and it was really enlightening because Covid was happening during that time as well. So I got to think about both Covid and concussions, which is very cool to see.

Ella Gullickson:

Awesome. Okay, so I have a few questions. When did you start working with Concussion Alliance?

Padmini Konidena:

It would've been 2022.

Ella Gullickson:

What drew you into Concussion Alliance?

Padmini Konidena:

Yeah, so I have been thinking about science in general and my place in science. So I'm a junior in college, and last year I would've been a sophomore, one year younger, but I've been thinking about what I want to do post-graduation.

So the Concussion Alliance was a cool way to learn some science because while I was there, I read a lot of articles and studies basically, so formal literature. So I got a lot of good experience in that area, and I wanted to get exposure to this specific area as well as the skills of science writing, just as a base-level understanding.

Ella Gullickson:

I think that's a really smart thing to do. I think it's really important for someone who wants to go into STEM to start learning how to most effectively read all those articles and glean the most information that you can, even if you're not an expert on that subject. I've been having to learn how to do that too.

Padmini Konidena:

Yeah. Hopefully you've had some fun too.

Ella Gullickson:

Yeah, for sure. What were some highlights of your Concussion Alliance internship?

Padmini Konidena:

Yeah. I guess I really liked our final project which we got to choose a topic based on what Connor and Malayka had chosen on a webpage that they would like for their site, and so I really liked creating it.

My webpage was on Long-Covid and persistent post-concussion symptoms, so I really enjoyed looking into that. So that made it really enjoyable.

Ella Gullickson:

I was looking at some of your work earlier today. I've never thought that there was sort of a common theme between Long-Covid and persistent post-concussive symptoms, so I think that's really cool. What was your biggest takeaway from relating Covid to concussion?

Padmini Konidena:

Well, I guess my biggest takeaway in general, and not completely relating to the topic, was just that there are so many interrelated things going on, and that was really cool to see just in terms of generalizations that are made about each of these illnesses. That was interesting because these are two illnesses that seem so unrelated.

It was cool to see that some of the same treatment situations could be applied to patients with Long-Covid. It was very, very new when I was looking at it too. So the studies that I was looking at were literally just published, maybe a couple months, a month or so, and it felt like I was on the cutting edge, which was really, really great. A really great feeling.

Ella Gullickson:

Yeah. That's really cool. You were definitely on the cutting edge. I bet it felt like you were right out there on the front lines with all those researchers doing all the work. That's really cool. What was it like writing for newsletter synopses?

Padmini Konidena:

Yeah, the newsletter synopses were nice as well because we got to read a current study and summarize it in about 300 words, which sometimes was a little hard to do because there was a lot to unpack and translate, but I feel like it made me understand the literature much better because I was translating something that was all science talk into something that the general public could understand with a very, very base level knowledge.

And so that made me dig into more of the words that I was seeing, more of the technical jargon, and I feel like it made me better at reading scientific literature and also gave me new perspectives because all of concussion literature that I had been reading was about Long-Covid and concussion. So I got some new material about concussion and about synopses.

Ella Gullickson:

So you would say that the synopses helped you understand the Long-Covid stuff that you were reading too?

Padmini Konidena:

I guess kind of. One of them was about inflammation, which is also seen in Long-Covid. So yeah, I would say kind of. It's peripheral. There was one that I did on electro-acupuncture. I had just looked up these to make sure that I knew what they were, but there was one on electro-acupuncture, and I don't think that's been completely tested with Long-Covid because it's fairly new with concussion as well, as far as when I was reading it was fairly new.

So I wouldn't say they're completely related, but it did deepen my understanding of concussion as a whole.

Ella Gullickson:

Did you have a favorite synopses that you wrote?

Padmini Konidena:

Yeah. I did really like the inflammation one, just because I think I liked looking up all the technical terms and being able to kind of glean more information from what they're saying because the article is literally filled with words that I don't know on my first read through, which is very scary and intimidating, but I feel like it was my first one that I did, and it felt really good to be able to translate what was being said into different language and understanding it better and being able to create a cool article from it.

Ella Gullickson:

So it was like the learning arc that made it your favorite, you would say?

Padmini Konidena:

Yeah. Probably.

Ella Gullickson:

What made you want to come back to Concussion Alliance as a volunteer?

Padmini Konidena:

I guess I'm still interested in concussions. I don't think I'll ever lose interest. I have been writing a couple of synopses. I think I've written two since I left last year after my internship with them. But I feel like it's a good area of research, and I think the mission of Concussion Alliance is really great, just spreading knowledge to people who may not know as much about concussion because it is so important, and I feel times are changing, and people are giving concussions more weight, but I feel like sometimes people don't understand that problems are problems, and I identify with the mission of Concussion Alliance. So I think it's something that interests me, so that's why I've been continuing.

Ella Gullickson:

Yeah, concussions are a really big public health issue, obviously, and I think that there's not enough information going to the public, and it's like a domino effect. It's back and forth.

Padmini Konidena:

Yeah.

Ella Gullickson:

How, if at all, did Concussion Alliance influence your plans for the future?

Padmini Konidena:

It kind of cemented the fact that I do need to do something in science for my future career. I guess it helped me be able to read scientific literature. So because I am thinking about going to med school now, and that requires a lot of work and lots of technical stuff, technical terms and all of that.

So it's made me more sure that I'll be able to do it because it was definitely difficult to, at first reading a bunch of things and being like, "What is this?" and all that, but I think it helped me in that aspect. And also, science writing is so cool. I feel like just reading stuff that other people write is great, and I have a newfound appreciation for it.

Ella Gullickson:

Yeah, I think the scientific community is cool in the way that there's lots of communication between research. I think that's a really unique area of study, and I think you can definitely do this med school thing. You seem super on top of it.

Padmini Konidena:

Thanks.

Ella Gullickson:

Has Concussion Alliance connected you with more externs or professionals since your internship program?

Padmini Konidena:

Yeah, so I haven't connected with other people. Malaylka has offered. I just haven't. Yeah.

Ella Gullickson:

Cool. How did the internship help you more broadly?

Padmini Konidena:

More broadly, I feel like, as a sophomore. I was a little intimidated by doing anything pretty much because it was like I had a ton of time over the summer, and I didn't know what I was going to do, and I was like, what am I going to do for the rest of my summers and all of that.

But I feel like, I don't know, Concussion Alliance, just the internship helped me kind of deal with my time and learn that there are opportunities out there that I'll find that I want to do. And I had been looking for weeks, and I was like, "There's nothing that interests me, and I don't know what I'm going to do."

But it was really nice to find this opportunity. Actually, a friend who I did the internship with showed me this and told me I should apply, and that was really nice. So I guess it just told me that it helped me think about the fact that there are things out there that I should find and I'll enjoy. So that was really great. The community is also really great. It was good interacting with everyone that I interacted with through Concussion Alliance, so that's good.

Ella Gullickson:

Yeah, I feel like for everyone, that first step of “what am I going to do” is so daunting, but I'm really glad that Concussion Alliance and just sort of taking that first step was helpful in that way.

Did what you learn about concussions through the internship impact your relationship with others?

Padmini Konidena:

Yeah. Not hugely, but just when people mention concussions, I will look towards them and make sure that what they're saying is not dismissive of them. And I have told people who've gotten them, "Take this seriously. Don't just brush it off because it is important and you can end up with a lot of long-term things."

But yeah, it's definitely given me a new perspective on how we deal with problems, and it's also an invisible illness. So it's given me a new perspective on how we deal with those as well. Since I've taken the class called psychopathology, I took it last trimester actually.

Basically a bunch of mental illnesses, and so those are also invisible injuries, illnesses, or however you want to categorize it, and I guess it changes the way that I look at the world, not how I look at people in general, but just taking things more seriously. Sometimes we need to give things more weight than what we think, but that's just what they deserve.

Ella Gullickson:

Yeah, for sure. I think it's really important that you're continuing to advocate for invisible illnesses other than concussion as well. Have you ever experienced a concussion?

Padmini Konidena:

I have not, no.

Ella Gullickson:

Good. I'm so glad to hear that. How did your internship experience at Concussion Alliance change your perspective on how people experience concussions?

Padmini Konidena:

Yeah, I guess it gave me a new respect for how the brain deals with trauma. I don't know if that directly answers your question. It's kind of roundabout, but it's crazy how the brain can just kind of take a shock, take an impact, jar around in there in the skull, and then it will bounce back eventually. I mean, it takes time. There's a lot of information and all of that, but I feel like it's so cool how that happens and all the processes that go on in our brains to make it better.