Joseph participates in academic bowl and Boy Scouts. He is a photographer, and he also plays soccer, sings in the choir, and plays the piano. Joseph would like to become an electrophysiologist someday "because they implant pacemakers, help in fixing electrical problems in the heart, and meet new people every day," he says.
Angel Leon is his mentor. "Not because he assisted in my research, but because he helps people every day," Joseph says.
Joseph's father works in the cell phone industry. Sometimes he tests phones at home. Joseph's mother, who has a pacemaker, notices that her heart rate increases when the phones are being tested; however, his grandfather, who also has a pacemaker, does not. Joseph wanted to test the effect of cell phones on pacemaker patients' hearts. He hypothesized that cell phones would increase heart rates.
Joseph worked with a researcher at Emory's Arrhythmia Center. Before beginning experimentation, Joseph had his procedure and his informed consent agreements approved by both his school and the hospital's Institutional Review Board. To test the participants, Joseph ensured that each one sat in the same position. A pacemaker technician took a regular electrocardiogram recording. Joseph turned on an analog cell phone and positioned it 3 inches to the right of the heart and 3 inches to the left of the heart. Each time, an EKG recording was conducted. He followed the same procedure with a digital cell phone. Finally, he asked the participants a few survey questions. Joseph concluded that the digital phone affected participants more than the analog phone and that pacemakers implanted after the year 2000 were less affected overall.
