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Year in Review

At the beginning of my time as a Health Sciences Scholar, I was a young kid who barely knew anything about the world and wanted to be a doctor because that’s what sounded cool. Today I am a slightly older and slightly more knowledgeable kid who is in the process of deciding what I want to do. To be honest, my initial expectations for college were to find myself doing well in my classes and following the path to medical school, of which I wasn’t aware of many of the things that are less often spoken of than good grades and MCAT scores. Coming to OSU was really a rude awakening to me. I struggled with my classes initially and I learned through HSS all the other hurdles to medical school there are such as being involved in research, volunteering, student organizations, and leadership positions among others. However, looking back, I’m glad that I didn’t meet those expectations. College has humbled me and helped me grow in ways I never thought of coming into school. It forced me to mature, break out of my comfort zone, and be involved. I can truly say that I’ve grown greatly as a person here in my first two years and wouldn’t have it any other way. I gained a lot more interest into the engineering field through taking the classes here and I’m currently wrestling with my future career plans. I hope in the next few years that I can finally decide and commit myself to put my all into whatever field I may try to enter. I’ve become much more outgoing in student orgs and obtained leadership positions in a few. I hope that these can help me continue to grow personally and foster lifelong friendships. Lastly, I plan to continue in researching in the biomedical engineering department to continue to develop my original inquiry skills to help me succeed wherever life takes me.

Major Service Project

Asian Health Initiative

Volunteering at a clinic and/or hospital setting was something that I wanted to do coming into college in order to gain a better perspective into the medical field since I am on a pre-med path. I tried to volunteer at the Wexner Medical Center but it being a competitive access program to do so, I was unable to make it my freshman year. At the beginning of sophomore year, one of my friends who is now on the way to medical school posted about an opportunity to volunteer at the Asian Health Initiative Free Clinic on Monday nights at Thomas E Rardin Family Practice Center. It was organized by the Asian American Community Services organization in Columbus. It provides free health care to uninsured people of all races and not just of Asian descent. In my role there, I schedule patient appointments, help patient fill out informational forms, created and use a spreadsheet to keep track of expenses such as prescriptions needed for each day, and create patient files when needed. So far my experience has been great. It’s awesome to see how this program started by an Asian American community organization to help Asians has spread to help people of all races in the interest of maintaining the health of the community as a whole. I’ve been able to gain invaluable patient interaction time and in difficult language barrier cause situations. The clinic has volunteers from the medical school as well and seeing them talk to the patients, figuring out diagnoses, and consulting with the practicing physician has been very cool to see and allowed me to gain a better insight into what it would be like to be a physician. I’m still undecided as to whether to try to go to medical school or into the engineering industry and I know that the experiences here will help me decide in the future. I hope that alongside the healthcare professionals and students, I’ve been able to help provide needed healthcare to uninsured patients. These patients all were very grateful for the care they were given it has been really rewarding to be a part of it. In my time there, the coordinator Chin-Yin Shih has made a strong impression on me. She clearly cares a great deal about the health of the community from all the work she’s put into this program. She organizes all the volunteers from the medical school and the doctors to get the proper number of them each week, carries and organizes all the patient files, has to keep track of all the returning patients and follow up with them to make sure they’re doing as the doctors say, and calling the pharmacies and physicians that patients might be referred to to check on their progress. It’s truly amazing to see the dedication she has to seeing this program succeed and it’s contagious through the office. Because of this service experience, I have grown in interacting with patients, learned more about medical practice, and simply been a part of a needed public service that many of these patients rely on and I’ve been blessed to volunteer my time here.

Chinese American Student Association

The Chinese American Student Association in conjunction with Pi Delta Psi held their Chinese New Year celebration on February 6. CASA also held a hot pot night on January 20. I attended and volunteered with setup for both of them and it was rewarding to see how the events went and brought people together to celebrate and learn about Chinese culture. I hope to apply and obtain an eboard position for this organization for next school year.

Injury Biomechanics Research Center

In February of 2016, I joined as an undergraduate research assistant in the Injury Biomechanics Research Center. At this time, I have not had the opportunity to help on any project. In general however, they utilize cadavers in tests to investigate how the body reacts in traumatic and injury causing situations. These tests provide a more realistic way of testing these situations compared to crash test dummies or artificial models.

Service Project – Asian Free Health Clinic

For my second year service project, I’m currently volunteering at the Asian Free Health Clinic provided by Asian American Community Services. They provide health services for people of all ethnicities that are uninsured and are in need of free healthcare. I currently create and maintain patient files, record data from visits, help patients fill out information forms, and schedule appointments. It is staffed by medical students  and a doctor who also volunteer their time to provide care.

Biomedical Engineering Society E Board

On February 10, the Biomedical Engineering Society held their elections for executive board positions. I ran and obtained the position of webmaster for the following school year. I will be in charge of maintaining and updating the society’s website and social media. I hope this will also allow me to get involved in other projects other eboard members work on in order to help provide career and social opportunities for fellow biomedical engineers.

2016 Leadership Summit

On January 30, I attended the 2016 Leadership Summit at the Blackwell Inn. It involved getting to meet other employees or students who wanted to be or were leaders within their company and on campus. There were speeches by the Chief World Class Operations officer of YUM Brands Rob Savage and the Ohio State football team’s leadership coach Tim Knight and they talked about what makes good leaders in how they lead by example and need to earn the repect and trust from those who are following. I attended two interview related breakout sessions as well which provided feedback and tips on how to interview and present yourself to the best of your ability. I think this was overall a great experience and hope to apply what I’ve learned in the future.

Resume

Jeffrey Justin Gray

gray.1049@osu.edu | 5851 Waterville-Monclova Rd Waterville, OH 43566 | (419) 508-2369

EDUCATION
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH       Expected Graduation Date: May 2018
B.S. Biomedical Engineering                              Overall GPA: 3.477 out of 4.0
College of Engineering Dean’s List: (Fall Semester 2014, Fall Semester 2015)

University of Toledo, Toledo, OH                      Summer 2015
Coursework: Organic Chemistry 1 and 2 with both lab components
GPA: 4.0 out of 4.0

TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS
– Computer Skills: Knowledge of MATLAB, SOLIDWORKS, Arduino, REALBasic, Excel, Word, and Photoshop

Relevant Coursework

  • Statics and Mechanics of Materials                 -Physics: Mechanics and E&M
  • Materials Science                                             -Numerical Simulations
  • Fundamentals of Engineering                          -Anatomy & Physiology
  • Organic Chemistry
  • PROJECTS
    Advanced Energy Vehicle Project (January 2015 – April 2015)
    -Collaborated on a successful semester long project designing, assembling, and programming an electric vehicle to run a track within set parameters using Arduino and SOLIDWORKS. Took role as schedule coordinator and task manager over the course of the project within the group. Group completed project on time, met all objectives, and earned an A.

    ACTIVITIES
    – Biomedical Engineering Society Member (September 2015 – Present)

    Health Science Scholars (HSS) Program Member (August 2014 – Present)
    -Chosen to participate in competitive, community based program for first and second year students interested in health-related fields; attend weekly seminar course and relevant HSS events, complete 40 service hours per year

    Asian American Intervarsity (AAIV) Member (August 2014 – Present)
    -Collaborate in groups to develop critical thinking and communication skills in examining Bible passages for 2 hrs/week

    REACH Suicide Prevention (March 2015)
    -Participated in training for recognition of signs of suicidal thoughts and warning signs in others and in providing resources and help for said persons

    VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
    – The Injury Biomechanics Research Center (February 2016-present)
    -Assist graduate students and faculty in their research

    Free Health Clinic (September 2015- present)
    -Working with health professionals in scheduling appointments for patients, creating files, and recording data for 30hrs/semester

    – Health Science Scholars Volunteering (August 2014-April 2015)
    -Completed 40 hours during the 1st year of college

    About Me

    Headshot

    My name is Jeffrey Gray and I’m currently a sophomore here at The Ohio State University. This major combines two areas that have always been extremely interesting to me throughout my life, engineering and medical care. I grew up with a father in the medical field as a practicing physician while spending my days building with Lincoln logs, Legos, K’nex, and models. This upbringing led to a desire for woodshop, programming, CAD, and drafting classes in high school to further foster my desire for hands on experiences and engineering. Today, the product of this has come in the form of the goal of majoring in Biomedical Engineering during my stay here at Ohio State.

    Outside of my coursework, I’ve become an undergraduate research assistant at the Injury Biomechanics Research Center founded by Dr. John Bolte and at the Asian Health Initiative Free Clinic provided by Asian American Community Services. Both of these experiences are allowing me to continue my interest in the medical and engineering fields as I have the goal of either pursuing a career in engineering or medicine in the future. I am also a member of the Health Science Scholars Program, Biomedical Engineering Society, Asian American Intervarsity, and Chinese American Student Association. All of these groups and activities provide something different in my life here on campus and they all are an integral part of my experience here at The Ohio State University.