Cross Country Q&A: Ben Fox
10/4/2016 10:55:00 AM | Cross Country, Competing With Purpose Blog
Ben Fox is a senior on the Pepperdine cross country and track teams. He is one of the squad's top runners and has been a Scholar-Athlete all three years that he has completed at Pepperdine. Last summer, he interned at the Anschutz Medical School in Colorado. As a physics major who has great ambitions, he shares his secret to success in both academics and athletics with us:
Q: This is your senior year. Could you describe your experience with the team?
A: The start was rough,coming into a new team, new school. The transition was difficult, especially because our team didn't have many upperclassmen, so a lot of pressure was put on the freshman class. It was difficult for me, but as the season progressed we got better and better. The running was great. Now we are at this point where we are really excited about where we are headed.
Q: What do you love the most about running for Pepperdine?
A: We have great team chemistry. The team is formed by an amazing group of guys. We always do everything together, so it makes everything so much fun.
Q: As a student-athlete,how has the balance between academics and athletics been?
A: It has been pretty manageable. We have practice in the morning, and we just have to get up early.It also means that I get to start the day earlier than other people. Then I go to class after practice, and I have all afternoon to do homework and manage my time accordingly.
Q: You chose physics asa major. What do you like about the field of study?
A: I chose physics because it is a good stepping-stone for whatever you want to do after graduating from college. For me, some other science majors seemed to narrow the career paths, and I wanted the options to do either engineering or in the medical field.
Q: Last summer, you did an internship with a medical facility. Could you unpack for us what that internship entailed?
A: I worked for the Anschutz Medical School with the University of Colorado in Denver. I was working in the Nephrology Lab (kidneys), and we were looking at the effects of acute kidney injuries (AKI), which is decreased blood flow to kidney. We looked into the change in metabolites. We were analyzing hundreds of chemicals in blood, heart and lungs, and mapped them as they changed throughout this disease. We did the experiments with mice. We gave mice AKI by clamping their kidneys, we would then unclamp the kidneys, and we sew them back up. Then we gave some of those mice dialysis, some did not get dialysis, and others only received the surgery without having their kidneys clamped. After some allotted period of time, we looked at their organs, took their blood samples and took notes on changes in the metabolites. This experiment was to hopefully understand AKI with deeper knowledge. We are looking for earlier biomarkers for AKI, and what metabolites contribute to the disease. In the ICU, if you have AKI and got dialysis, then there is 50-60% mortality rate, which is pretty high.
Q: What was the biggest takeaway from the internship?
A: I haven't taken biochemistry yet, so it provided me a lot of knowledge about the subject. It was a great experience to learn biochemistry. My co-workers gave me a lot of insight to what I want to do after college. I got to work with MDs, PhDs, and many undergraduate students that I was inspired by.
Q: What are your goals after graduation? Are you still deciding between engineering and medical school?
A: I am still unsure of what I want to do. I think I want to take a year off, and work at a lab or engineering facility to see what I like better. From there, I will consider my options for graduate school or medical school. I really loved working in the lab,and I got to talk to a lot of different people. When I talked to my co-workers,they said some things about the challenge of being on the medical path. I am still back to where I was before, but at least now I know that I enjoy the lab setting as well as I do in the engineering field.
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