Ryan's Story

Ryan Argetsinger, 7/26/24

I remember the look on my dad’s face when I told him I wanted to be a detective like he was. As a ten-year-old kid, it seemed like a dream job: I got to help others while using my skills to solve problems by building evidence, and making discoveries. Although he was proud to have been a role model, he ushered me to find something more suited to my interests. I didn’t know what that advice meant until I found myself in the corner of a family health clinic, listing off the skeleton bones. 

My school had a unit where we started learning about human anatomy and medicine. In hindsight (and for the fourth grade), I loved the entire unit of study. The final exam for the end of the unit was a “licensing exam” to be a physician in the fourth grade. I passed it, but my teacher had an extra exam to become a specialist, which meant taking one more exam, in the fashion of every medical curriculum around the world. So, although I was dreading being in the clinic that day, I got some good review done. When my doctor came out of her office and saw me naming the bones, she smiled and said “Are you going to be taking my job one day?” That’s when my dad’s advice kicked in. I wanted to be a doctor. 

I was always interested in science, especially in human anatomy and physiology, and I have a lot of academic curiosity to thank for my interest in pursuing medicine, but I do also believe that it was in part because of my parents. A lot of my family has been involved in public service in some form or another. Growing up in a household where my grandfather was a police officer, my uncles all are and were, and my dad was before moving into a federal position, it made me realize just how dedicated someone must be to want to put someone else's needs before their own. That’s why I truly believe in the phrase, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” I feel a strong desire to help others and use my skills and education to serve those in all communities.

Outside of my family’s influence, athletics has really shaped my view on medicine. I chose exercise science as my major of study in university because it allowed me to combine my passions of athletics and science, but it was also because a part of me understood the benefit and crossover that medicine and exercise science shared. Especially in the realm of performance science, the ability to study what efficient physiology has to offer allows us to see discrepancies in what we view as normal and even pathological. That’s why I want to pursue a career in medicine, as well as research to find methods of treatment through physiological research. Research has allowed me to enhance my skills as a physician, not just because it looks good on an application, but because of the education and experience it’s provided me in critical thinking. By immersing yourself in the investigative nature that research provides, you find the problems that need to be solved, putting the hourglass to the clues to eventually fit them together. That’s why I believe I can help more people through research and the translation of skills and discoveries to clinical care. 

I truly believe that medicine evolves daily, which is why understanding research and scientific literature is even more important for physicians today. I want to be able to provide the best care possible to my patients in the future and think that the journey I’m taking now is going to be long and probably exhausting, at times. But knowing I can be of service gives me the motivation that makes this path worth traveling.