December Spotlight: Ryan Fauglid

Our December spotlight is Ryan Fauglid (he/him), the PHSRC Student Communications and Operations Assistant. Ryan is a third-year Strategic Communications major in the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications with minors in Public Health and Spanish. He is passionate about health communications, with goals of increasing health literacy and promoting public health initiatives.

You started off majoring in psychology and spanish, and pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree. You’re now pursuing a Strategic Communications BA, and considering applying to Master of Public Health programs! What factored into your decisions to change your major and health career goals?

There were quite a few things that factored into my decision to switch from the Psychology, BS major with the end goal of getting my DNP in psychiatry and mental health to enrolling in the Strategic Communications, BA program. I think the biggest deciding factor was just looking at my skills and my interests. I was really interested in health care through my high school work experiences, but realized that direct patient care was not the right route for me when I experimented with jobs and projects outside of my major and health career goal. I was invited to apply for a marketing internship at the same hospital I worked at during high school, and decided to apply. I found where my passion truly lay: healthcare communications. 

Heading into my sophomore year of college I applied for a Communications and Operations Assistant position with the Pre-Health Student Resource Center. After conversations with my boss and our incredible Director of Communications, Laura Fyfe, as well as some former coworkers--I decided this was the best fit and I made the decision to change my career path. It definitely was scary, especially since I envisioned my life including direct patient care. It was also a major academic change, as I was close to graduating early with my Psychology, BS I could feel, though, that this was the right decision. 

The MPH program came as an afterthought as I started thinking about graduate programs. I read into the MPH with a focus in Community Health Promotion through the U of M School of Public Health and found that it was a great combination of health care and communications. I am not entirely settled on what my post-undergrad route will be though, I have looked into the MPH program, the U of M’s Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA), and different masters programs in health communications, as well as the Professional Masters in Strategic Communication offered through the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications--with the end goal of working in a healthcare setting. While I am not entirely sure which program I am going to settle on, I think that that is okay, I have time and I know my end goal. I am really happy with where I am at because I factored my passions and my interests into my future career.

Many pre-health students ask about the best majors to declare to get into medical schools, dentistry schools, or other health programs. How do you think about the majors you’ve chosen, in relation to your health career goals? What advice on choosing a major would you give other pre-health students? 

I think, when picking a major, you really need to keep your passions, goals, and interests in mind. When I wanted to do patient care, I chose the Psychology, BS major because that is where my interests were. I then changed to Strategic Communications when I found my interests were elsewhere. One thing that I was grateful for is that you do have flexibility to pave your own path to your health career through a lot of majors. For example, I would have made it to medical school or the nursing programs I was looking at with that degree as long as I took the required courses for the program and the admissions test (like the MCAT for medical school.) 

One thing that I can not emphasize enough is to figure out where your interests are, and how you can build your path around that. Without picking a major that interested me I would be burnt out. I recommend finding ways to incorporate your interests into your major, and definitely keep those interests in mind when choosing your health career pathway.

For readers who aren’t aware, Ryan is the brains and creativity behind much of the Pre-Health Student Resource Center communications, from Instagram posts (@umnprehealth), to event graphics, to the formatting of our website, and more! Ryan, what led you to become so involved in communications and media? In what ways do you find this work meaningful?

My path to the communications and media field was definitely not linear. During high school, I had the opportunity to take a few marketing and business-related classes which were super interesting. I did not consider this as an actual career path until I spent a summer as a marketing intern for a local hospital. I really enjoyed the work I was able to do and honestly could not imagine myself doing anything else.

Finding meaningfulness and fulfillment in work is one of the most important things for me. At first, I failed to see this applying to communications, but then by working with and talking to students (with the Pre-Health Student Resource Center) and patients (during my internship), I realized that one of the biggest roles of communications is taking these bigger things and make them make sense to stakeholders. Being able to do that by helping students find their path and make their academic career easier is rewarding, especially since I understand where that frustration and anxiety comes from, having been through a lot of academic and career changes myself. 

It’s the same in healthcare. I had the opportunity to write a piece about a new cautery machine we used to help patients better understand their upcoming procedures, and I had the opportunity to break down some COVID-19 information to ease patient and community members' questions and concerns. This is incredibly rewarding and meaningful to me. In addition, I consider myself to be a creative person, and I get the opportunity to use my creativity in a way that still benefits people through communications and media.

You also are one of the founders of UNITY Health, a new student organization on campus. Tell us about UNITY! What are some of the benefits of joining a pre-health student organization?

Yes! UNITY Health is a new pre-health student organization here at the University of Minnesota. Our main focus as an organization is to promote and support community-based healthcare locally. Additionally, we provide broader health care related information to club members and the community. We had a community-based healthcare round table discussion this October, where we brought in multiple local leaders in community-based healthcare to talk about their services and their experiences in this field. 

Joining a pre-health student organization can be really beneficial. It is a major opportunity to meet new people (which is one of my favorite hobbies), and to explore new areas of interest. I just was at UNITY Health’s suture clinic, which is something that I would never do normally but am so glad I did! There are so many people to meet, things to learn, and events to do that you would miss out on without joining a pre-health student organization, or any student organization. Find what interests you, look at some of the U of M pre-Health student organizations and what they do, and go to a meeting if one sounds interesting!

Is there anything else you’d like to share with readers?

Take advantage of the resources and opportunities available to you as a University of Minnesota student. The Pre-Health Student Resource Center is obviously one of these resources. Look into student organizations, find local volunteering opportunities, explore areas of study you have never considered before, take a class outside of your major, and do everything you can do as a student at the U. I feel like I have grown so much not just as a student, but as a person by experiencing as many things that the U has to offer as I can.

Thank you for sharing your story with PHSRC Pulse readers, Ryan, and thank you for all the amazing work you do for the PHSRC!