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Join the Distressing Math Collective for a talk titled "Quantifying Cardiovascular Anatomy: Tales from a BioMath REU" by Lucy Wilson '25. Snacks will be served in the Math Lounge starting at 6:30 p.m.! Aortic coarctation (COA) is a congenital heart defect defined by a severe narrowing of the thoracic aorta. Accounting for 6% of diagnosed heart defects, this pathology is typically detected and surgically repaired during early childhood.

Despite this treatment, many COA patients inexplicably suffer adverse effects decades later, including severe hypertension in their early 40s. Within research of this phenomenon, theories aiming to definitively identify the cause of these comorbidities can be greatly supported by computational modeling. In particular, quantifying the impacts of COA on blood pressure, blood flow, and wall shear stress in the aortic anatomy allows researchers to pinpoint which aspects of living with COA may contribute most to long-term complications.

In this talk we will discuss the methodology of one such computational model, developed as part of the 2024 DRUMS REU at North Carolina State University. We will further detail the motivation and mechanics of the research project, while giving insight into the experience of being a mathematical physiology REU student in this program.