Congenitally Malformed Hearts: Aspects of Teaching and Research Involving Medical Students

To appreciate congenital heart disease fully, a detailed understanding of the anatomical presentation, as well as the physiology, is required. This is often introduced at an advanced stage of training. Professor Anderson has been influential in the Clinical Anatomy Intercalated BSc programme at the University of Birmingham, in particular in his teaching on Sequential Segmental Analysis. This article describes the experiences of the latest cohort of students on this programme, who undertook varying research projects using the Birmingham Cardiac Archive, with the guidance of Professor Anderson. The projects outlined include various aspects of isomerism, encompassing both the cardiac and abdominal manifestations, as well as details of congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries and prenatally diagnosed right aortic arch and double arch. These studies all aimed to increase the knowledge base of their respective cardiac malformations and provide a basis for further research.