August 16, 2002

Former gang member studying to become a doctor; follows sister to Indiana State

Former gang member Ryan Gholson works in a science lab at Indiana State.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — The youngest of seven children, Ryan Gholson never knew his father. At 13, he lost his mother to suicide.

Gang members took the distraught youth under their wing and he saw people die on the streets of Gary. During a four-year tour of duty with the Navy, Gholson witnessed still more death -- this time in the Middle East.

Now the once troubled teen-ager who was in and out of four high schools due to bad behavior wants to help save lives. Gholson is a senior pre-med student at Indiana State University. He was among a select group of students chosen to take part in a 10-week summer research program at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

"I never took anybody's life," Gholson said of his turbulent teen years. "(But) I've seen death and I've seen it a lot and it comes in many forms and many ways.

"To be a doctor and to be in the medical profession takes so much effort on preserving and maintaining life than it does just tearing it down and I wanted to be on the other end of the spectrum."

Gholson, 25, followed his big brother into the Navy and followed a sister to Indiana State.

"She told me … it wasn't expensive and she also told me that the class size was small and it was a nice size campus," he said. "Listening to her advice, I followed in her footsteps."

When he entered the pre-medicine program at Indiana State, Gholson was "a little apprehensive, a little defensive," said Mary Beth Seaward, a medical education specialist and Gholson's mentor under the university's Mentoring Assistance for Prospective Scholars program. "But it wasn't very long before I realized he had potential. He was a very strong-willed individual, having insight into where he wanted to go, (but) not specifically knowing how he was going to get there."

Seaward credits Holly Hobaugh, a pre-professional advisor at ISU, for steering Gholson toward the pre-medicine program. She said Indiana State has staff members who are capable of identifying such jewels in the rough and placing them with the people who can help them achieve.

"There are a lot of Ryan Gholsons out there that haven't been identified or have not stepped up to bat … that, given the right opportunity, will be able to come forward and do wonders."

Thanks to a National Institutes of Health minority student development grant, Ryan was one of 80 undergraduates from around the country selected for Baylor's Summer Medical and Research Training Program, which provides students with lab training in a broad spectrum of biomedical science. Gholson's research focused on reproductive biology.

"Offering Ryan a position in the program was one of the best decisions we made this year," said Dr. Gayle R. Slaughter, the program's director. "Ryan's willingness to share his story and be a mentor will hopefully help others realize that doors of opportunity can open."

The SMART program offered more than just research, Gholson said.

"They actually let you become scientists," he said. "They let you come to your own conclusions, your own hypothesis, find your own results and find out what your results mean. It was about actually being an individual and coming into your own."

By coming into his own, Gholson may also help inspire others to succeed, said Slaughter.

"This one is going to make it, and I believe help others make it as well," she said.

NOTE:
Photos of Ryan Gholson are available by contacting Tony Campbell, photojournalist with ISU public affairs, at (812) 237-3788.  Television "b-roll" and video and audio sound bites are available by contacting Dave Taylor, ISU Public Affairs, at (812) 237-3743.  Ryan Gholson and Mary Beth Seaward are also available for interviews by calling (812) 237-3743.

Writers:
Dave Taylor, ISU Public Affairs, (812) 237-3743
and John Tyler, Baylor College of Medicine Public Affairs, (713) 798-7965.

ISU Public Affairs:
(812) 237-3773 or http://isunews.indstate.edu