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NIH and The Children's Inn at NIH celebrate Sibling Day to support the brothers and sister of patients being treated at the NIH Clinical Center

Clinical Center News

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Jul 25, 2019

On July 9, the NIH Clinical Center and The Children's Inn at NIH celebrated Sibling Day – a day focused on the important role siblings play in the care of their brothers and sisters who are participating in clinical research. The "Super Sibs", as we like to call them, visited our Department of Laboratory Medicine to conduct fun experiments, the National Institute of Mental Health clinic to learn what it's like to get an MRI, and much more.

A patient's sibling conducts a science experiment
Toni (right), along with another Super Sib, vortex a test tube sample to mix up reagents during the 2019 NIH Sibling Day in the NIH Clinical Center Department of Laboratory Medicine. Pictured left, Kathy Spaid, a team lead in the departments Chemistry Stat Lab, and center, Courtney Hall, a team lead in the departments Hematology Coag.
 
A patients brother and sister conduct a science experiment
With steady hands, Super Sib Abel (center) picks up a ribbon of tissue out of a warm water bath during the 2019 NIH Sibling Day. His sister Amana (left), and he, are here at the NIH Clinical Center as their sibling participates in a stem cell transplant clinical trial. After some coaching from Eddie Martin (right), team lead for Histology in the Department of Laboratory Medicine, the siblings were able to slice small portions of tissue samples, through a process called microtomy, transfer the ribbon of tissue sections to a warm water bath then pick up the samples with glass charged slides. Looking on from behind is Teresa Bauch, a medical technology in the department's microbiology section. 
 
A sibling of a patient tries a mock MRI scanner and others clap
Everyone is clapping for Super Sibling Amana who anxiously tried an MRI simulator. Pictures, left to right, Lori Wiener, Co-Director of the Behavioral Health Core and Director of the Psychosocial Support and Research Program in the National Cancer Institute, Mira Bajaj and Emily Jones, Post baccalaureate Intramural Research Trainee Awardees with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Super Sibling Amana, and Dr. John Ingeholm, a Biomedical Engineer with NIMH.
 

- Debbie Accame and Molly Freimuth