Personal Story - Ravin Fisher

Along my path, I've embraced a tumultuous departure from convention, realizing that the ostensibly straight road to success, dictated by conformity, often twists and turns into unexpected obstacles. Both my educational and professional routes to get to where I am today have been no less than a windy road of setbacks, U-turns, and short stops. In order to testify to my journey to my current road to a Doctoral in Biological Science, I want to provide insight into my upbringing.
In 1993, I was born to two parents who were at the time, both active duty in the military (ARMY). 

Despite my parents being in the same platoon and knowing the consequences and dangers of having a spouse in the same unit, they eventually wed in 1996 and again in 1997 in Korea at the age of 31 (dad) and 23 (mom). 

While my parents ultimately ended in divorce 3 years later, my life and love from them was never changed. At the age of 9, my environment began to change drastically. Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003) had begun, and both of my parents were deployed to fight. My older brother (JR) was already living with my grandmother (in the countryside of NC), and at the start of the war, I ended up there as well along with my younger brother (Zuri). I was sent to live with my paternal grandmother, where we all received letters constantly and phone calls (when able) of them telling us how much they loved us and to do well in school.   

Prior, to moving in with my grandmother we didn’t have activities to keep us occupied other than each other (fighting) in our newfound environment. My grandmother was taking care of her mother, elder brother and working (Nurse) at the time in the house and we had nothing to do other than to color and watch Disney movies on VCR.  Due to the length of the war and seeing no end to it anytime soon, my grandmother began to allow us to collect animals (peacocks, chickens, goats, cows, pigs, turtles, rabbits, snakes, dogs, and cats) to take care of.

Due to developing a love for the farm life, I began to become interested in biology. I wanted to know WHY? And HOW? To every aspect of life, survival, needs, and reproduction. As a "nerd," instead of consuming myself with video games and friends, I read the 1970s edition of the World Encyclopedia and wanted to know as much about life as possible. I eventually envisioned myself as an inventor or researcher who wanted to find the answer to random unanswered questions (biologically related). I had no idea how to investigate or test hypotheses, but at a young age, I knew that if I stayed in school, those tools would be available to me.
In 2012, I graduated high school with honors from Eastern Randolph High School while simultaneously acquiring my Nurse Aide Certification. After graduation, I was admitted into the University of NC at Greensboro as a track athlete and Nursing Major, turned Biology Major, where I was only able to complete 2 full years before losing financial aid due to my grades (and distractions). Instead of taking an academic break to figure out what I wanted to do with my academic life, I worked as a Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) and at a department store (BELKs) while attending community college, where I received honors and my Associate in Science (2016).
 

In 2016, I applied to an HBCU (Historically Black College and University) - Hampton University, where I was able to graduate again with honors after 3 years of coursework and working 3 jobs (2 CNA jobs and a work-study job). While at Hampton, I acquired an internship to gain experience in the MD-PHD field at Virginia Tech Carilion Institute. This experience paved the way for me to work in a fully funded research lab and gain mice-handling experience working with cardiovascular disease models. I also obtained a summer internship, after graduation (2019), at Eastern Virginia Medical School to work in a lab that focused on metabolic diseases.

At this point, since I was able to maintain multiple jobs and pursue honors at various institutions, I began to come to the notion that I am a person who likes to be busy and my focus comes from me having limited time to perform tasks.

In 2019, I applied to Eastern Virginia Medical School for a Master’s in Biomedical Research while also working at the local hospital Sentara Norfolk General as a Nurse Aide. Despite having an unpredictable schedule (as research and experiments are not always to the time), I decided an "As needed" working position was the best. When COVID happened, and the schools and most jobs were shut down, I was able to work and make a living with extra pay working normal hours or even overtime if I wanted. In 2021, I graduated from Eastern Virginia Medical after the completion of my dissertation and my written thesis. Due to me finishing the program, I decided that research is something that I am capable of doing and wanted to continue doing.

In 2021, I was accepted into the University of Maryland as a PhD student, where I currently reside in the lab of Dr. Volker Briken, working with mouse models to identify host-pathogen responses during Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. During my first year in the program, I was not able to maintain my typical nursing schedule and had to work as a teaching assistant for various laboratory courses. This experience was rewarding as I have always been shy and soft-spoken (unless I felt strongly about a topic).

Also, during my time at the University of Maryland, I was diagnosed with ADHD, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and Depression due to my inability to focus and remember information given to me in a short amount of time. My mental health is something that I have always struggled with and neglected due to my busy schedule of having multiple jobs and being in school full-time. It was not until I was relieved of such a demanding schedule that I was able to properly get treatment and obtain a healthier mindset when facing obstacles.

From the September 2024 CBMG Newsletter