“This place plays an important role in my life in many ways,” says Dr. Nóra Sydó, resident of the Városmajor Heart and Vascular Centre, and a member of the Sports Cardiology team. Nearly ten years ago, under the supervisory leadership of Dr. Béla Merkely, she joined the Sports Cardiology Laboratory as a student researcher (TDK), where she studied the role of electrocardiography in athlete cardiac screening, and later continued her studies as a PhD student.
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The lab performs complex sport cardiac examinations, including resting ECGs, heart ultrasounds, body composition tests, and treadmill spiroergometry. They are used to screen out diseases that could potentially endanger athletes and to monitor for differences in performance, she explained. In fact, these tests help athletes prepare for competition; if necessary, we suggest a workout program based on the results – pointed out Dr. Nóra Sydó. “It is a great pleasure for me to work with excellent athletes every day, including Olympic and World Champion athletes, with whom friendships have been formed thanks to regular teamwork.” In the lab, where approximately six to seven examinations are performed daily, pictures of athletes who visit them are collected on a “memorial wall”. Dr. Nóra Sydó pointed out that she received her measurement training at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in the United States, where, since 2014, she has been involved as a research fellow in the sports physiology department. She highlighted that measurements require very precise preparation – which is often longer than the test itself.
“To this day, I’m happy to come here every morning, the clinic feels like a big family to me,” said Dr. Sydó, who has been traveling frequently with the Hungarian Swimming team as the team’s general practitioner, and was present at this year’s World Aquatics Championships in South Korea. As the national team’s general practitioner, she performed on-site treatment of athletes, including the assessment and treatment of various injuries and infections, as well as taking on-site measurements, which, as she said, was a huge responsibility.
Bernadett Bódi
Translation: Faye Gillespie
Photo Credit: Attila Kovács – Semmelweis University
In our article series entitled “My University”, we ask university citizens to show their favorite university location, and discuss its importance to them. These articles are a part of the celebration of Semmelweis University’s 250th anniversary year.
