Muli Bwanji (How are you in Chichewa)?! My name is Ryan Mack, and I was born in Detroit and grew up in Troy, Michigan. I attended International Academy East, where the International Baccalaureate (IB) program developed my love for learning and scientific inquiry. Courses like IB Biology, Physics, History, Literature, and Art taught me to think critically and creatively, and helped me see how science connects to the real world.
After graduating from IA in 2014, I attended Michigan State University’s Lyman Briggs College, where I studied Physiology and Human Biology. I explored many areas of research, including a neuroscience lab studying how the brain learns languages, chronic pain and opioid phenotyping research through MSU’s Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, and eventually the fields of hematology, the study of blood and blood diseases, immunology, and cancer biology. This combination of scientific curiosity and my interest in patient care convinced me to pursue an MD and a PhD.
In 2018, I moved to Oak Park, Illinois, right outside Chicago, to begin medical school at Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine. There, I completed my PhD in biochemistry and cancer biology, focusing on hematopoietic stem cells, the cells that create all the blood in your body, and how they choose to become platelets, red blood cells, or immune cells. Oak Park is where I live with my husband, two dogs, and two cats when I'm not abroad for research.
I am currently completing a Fulbright Fogarty Fellowship in Public Health in Lilongwe, Malawi, a country in sub-Saharan Africa. Malawi is surrounded by Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique, and stretches along beautiful Lake Malawi (known as Lake of the Stars). I work with the Malawi Blood Transfusion Service, UNC Project Malawi, and the Kamuzu Central Hospital's National Cancer Center, studying how platelets move from blood donors to patients... think about it like I'm tracking how blood moves vein-to-vein! My goal is to strengthen Malawi’s blood supply system through research.
I plan to specialize in pathology, the field of medicine that studies the causes of disease, and transfusion medicine, which focuses on providing safe blood and blood based therapies. I hope to show how global health, public health, hematology, and scientific research can all work together, and how curiosity can take you from a high school classroom to anywhere across the world.
Want to learn how you could be a Fulbright Scholar like me? The Fulbright Program is the United States government's flagship international exchange program. Fulbrighters foster mutual understanding between the United States and partner nations, share knowledge across communities, and improve lives around the world. Learn more by clicking here!
