First Graders Learn about the Heart from a Brandeis Alumni Father-son Team

For the last 10 years, cardiologist Dr. John MacGregor and his son Jacob (class of 2016) have visited Barbara Eisenhauer’s first grade class for a lesson about the heart. Dr. MacGregor and Jacob began the lesson yesterday morning by providing the first graders with an overview of the heart. “This year, they delved much more deeply into the relationship between the heart and the lungs,” explains Ms. Eisenhauer. “The students came away with the understanding of how the pulmonary artery carries blood to pick up oxygen and how the aorta carries the oxygen-rich blood back.” After the introduction, students were given the opportunity to examine, touch, and even hold three hearts: a healthy heart, a heart from someone who had a heart attack, and a heart from someone with high blood pressure. A question-and-answer session followed, which was packed with great questions the first graders had prepared ahead of time.

“I am so appreciative of Dr. MacGregor and Jacob,” adds. Ms. Eisenhauer. “They have been educating my first graders since Jacob was in my class! Each year I learn something new, and I know Dr. MacGregor is the favorite cardiologist of my past and present first graders.” MORE PHOTOS