The Upside of Down Syndrome: Math is My Superpower!

Abstract

My son Isaac has Down syndrome. He was born in 2015, within a year of me receiving tenure at Simpson College. The experience of being his mother has had a profound effect on me as a mathematician. Having been with him through eleven surgeries over sixteen hospitalizations, I wanted to learn about his medical complexities and, more generally, about coordinated health care for those with chronic illness. To accomplish these goals, I've looked to my teaching and research. In the spring of 2016, I designed a sophomore-level mathematical modeling course on the respiratory system. In the summer of 2016, I led a group of three undergraduates to utilize location analysis as a means of understanding patient access in the health care system. We used p-median and maximal covering models to investigate patient access to Down syndrome specialty care clinics in the United States. More recently, together with a graduate student in medical anthropology and a handful of undergraduates in mathematics, I've initiated a project on family perspectives of attending a Down syndrome specialty clinic. Through teaching and research, I've used math as my superpower to help understand and improve health care for individuals with Down syndrome.

Emotional Labor in Mathematics: Reflections on Mathematical Communities, Mentoring Structures, and EDGE

“…Thinking of academic research in mathematics, it is clear that mathematicians occasionally engage in research that is personally relevant to them. See for instance [27], where Kolba describes research she undertook to better understand twin pregnancies, and [6], where Berger describes her research related to Down's Syndrome. Similarly the work I did with Glass on school districting (see for instance [15]) also came out of personal investment in the topic.…”

“…where Kolba describes research she undertook to better understand twin pregnancies, and [6], where Berger describes her research related to Down's Syndrome. Similarly the work I did with Glass on school districting (see for instance [15]) also came out of personal investment in the topic.…”