Leadership In Action: Texas A&M BIMS Student Prepares For Career In Emergency Medicine
Story by Megan Bennett, VMBS Communications
Photo by Nadya Pichkasova, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
When Ujwal Boinpally walks the commencement stage on Dec. 18, he won’t just be celebrating his new undergraduate degree in biomedical sciences (BIMS) — he’ll be reflecting on the many experiences from the past four years that have shaped his career goals, his unique skillset, and his passions.
From conducting psychiatric research to saving lives as an emergency medical technician (EMT), Boinpally has spent his time at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) developing himself into a well-rounded future doctor.
His hard work and dedication also have earned him the special role of carrying the VMBS’ gonfalon, a special flag representing the college, at the graduation ceremony. Just as he leads and represents his class there, Boinpally will be sure to emerge as a medical leader in the years to come.
From Machines To Medicine
Growing up in Irving, Texas, Boinpally assumed that he would likely pursue a career in engineering or computer science like his parents. He even spent his time at Coppell High School as part of the Solar Car Club, building solar-powered cars and taking them to races.
“Both of my parents are software engineers, so that’s where I thought was going to end up,” he said. “I did a lot of computer science classes in high school. But when I was applying to college, I realized that while I like computer science, it’s not really something I want to do for my career.”
Focusing instead on his interest in biology and how he enjoyed interacting with people, Boinpally pivoted to consider a career in medicine and quickly found a mentor in his own doctor, Dr. Timothy Thomason ’98, a BIMS graduate who went on to become a successful ear, nose, and throat specialist in Irving.
With Thomason’s influence, Boinpally decided to follow a similar path by pursuing a BIMS degree at Texas A&M.
“I really like the culture here and that it’s a huge school,” Boinpally said. “Anything you want to do is out there for you to discover. I wanted that college experience, to move away from home for a little while and figure things out on my own. Texas A&M has that kind of environment.”
Discovering Research
One of the unique experiences Boinpally had at Texas A&M was the opportunity to contribute to meaningful research by working in labs on campus, the first of which was with Dr. Aref Zarin in the Department of Biology.
“We were studying motor movements in fruit flies, and it was my introduction into combining data analysis with biology,” Boinpally said. “The computer science merging with biology and medicine was really interesting to me.”
That experience led Boinpally to add a bioinformatics minor to his degree plan and to pursue another research position on campus, this time in the Psychiatric Genetics Lab at the Naresh K. Vashisht College of Medicine.
Boinpally’s project focused on substance use disorders and culminated in a published research article in Explorations (see page 40), a journal dedicated to student research at Texas A&M.
“The paper is about how different aspects of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affect alcohol use outcomes in the future, specifically within the Latino population,” he said. “We found that hyperactivity is more likely to promote bad alcohol use outcomes versus inattentiveness. It’s also more pronounced in males than females.”
While focused solely on data analysis right now, this work could potentially lead to improved diagnosis and treatment options for psychiatric disorders.
In addition to faculty members Drs. John Hettema and Shaunna Clark, Ph.D. student Amy Adams was a big influence on Boinpally during his time with the lab.
“She was a huge help with learning the R programming language for data analysis as well as with my medical school applications, since she’s an MD/Ph.D. student herself,” Boinpally said. “If there was one person who helped me the most during my time at A&M, it was probably her.”
Finding His Niche
Photo by Nadya Pichkasova, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Boinpally also has spent his time in college exploring career paths through student organizations — including the Apprentice Doctor-Medical Chapter at Texas A&M and the American Medical Student Association — and as a supplemental instruction leader for physics.
However, it ended up being his off-campus experiences that had the most impact in shaping his career goals — to become an emergency doctor or trauma surgeon working on the front lines to save lives on a daily basis.
Boinpally spent six months of his junior year working as an EMT in Bryan, seeing a mix of routine transports and emergency cases from rural areas around town.
“In college, it’s pretty rare to be able to treat a patient by yourself, so this was a good experience to have that pressure and know what it feels like,” he said. “It’s just you in the back of the truck with your patient and if things go wrong, you have to think on the fly. You can learn a lot from textbooks, but you have to really be there and experience it to know what to do when things deviate from the textbook examples.”
Boinpally also worked as a scribe for a local emergency room, documenting cases for doctors and seeing the day-to-day life of an ER clinician. Finally, during his breaks from classes, he returned home to shadow his mentor, Thomason.
“That was cool, seeing how he interacts with other people and watching his surgeries,” Boinpally said. “It showed me how I want to treat my own patients as a doctor. It was a really good experience, and getting to see how the actual job is done, with someone I actually know, put it all into perspective.”
Ready For The Next Steps
Having completed his BIMS degree, Boinpally is excited to begin medical school in the fall, the next step in his educational journey.
Although a career in emergency medicine is his ultimate goal, he’s also hoping to continue conducting research in the future.
“I feel like if I didn’t want to become a doctor, I’d probably go into research,” he said. “As I’ve been interviewing at medical schools, one of the things I’ve been asking is how their students are involved in research and able to integrate that into their careers.”
During his break from school over the next several months, Boinpally plans to work as an EMT in Dallas while also taking some much-needed time to relax and travel.
For now, he’s excited for his friends and family to see him leading the charge at graduation, an honor that reflects his many outstanding accomplishments and endeavors during his time as a BIMS student at Texas A&M.
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Contact Information: Jennifer Gauntt, Director of VMBS Communications, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, jgauntt@cvm.tamu.edu, 979-862-4216
