|
"I
may never become one of the top scientists in my field,
but that is more by choice than because of capability. One
of the most valuable lessons I learned at Huntington was
that a balanced life is much more productive and fruitful
than devoting all my time to work."
|
What
does Karolinska Institute, one of the leading research centers in
Europe and home to the Nobel Prize, have in common with Huntington University? The answer is Brian Barnes, a 1998 Huntington University
graduate and future Ph.D. recipient at Karolinska Institute in
Stockholm, Sweden.
Brian’s
years spent at Huntington laid a foundation for advanced studies
in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Karolinska.
His research focuses on the treatment of type II diabetes. Brian
credits Huntington University not only for the outstanding academic
preparation he received, but also for helping him to devote
himself fully to God, and teaching him to maintain balance between
life and career.
“One
of the most difficult challenges of my job is trying to keep up
with the pace of science,” says Brian, who earned his Huntington University degree in exercise science and completed a master’s
degree in exercise physiology from Ball State University. “I
currently work with a protein considered by many as one of the
most promising targets for drug development. The field is moving
very fast and staying close to the lead is very difficult. But the
biggest difficulty is balancing my desires to be with my family
and my love for science.”
Brian
says the road to the top of the scientific field does not leave
much room for anything else. “I think most top scientists live
and breathe science 24 hours each day in search of that big
breakthrough toward fame and status,” Brian says. “I do my
fair share of thinking about science – at the dinner table, in
the shower, at the gym, just about anywhere – but my thinking is
usually spurred by curiosity, not desire for fame. I believe that
shutting off my scientific mind away from work is crucial to being
a good husband and father.”
Brian
and his wife Dawn have a two-year old son, Isaiah, and it is his
family that Brian says allows him to keep a healthy balance
between family and career. He says his
wife understands the pressures of his occupation
and is supportive in both his successes and failures. And every
day when he arrives home from work, Isaiah has anxiously awaited
for his “dad-time.”
“Regardless
of the day I’ve had, I very rarely finish my time spent with my
son thinking about projects at work,” Brian says. It’s a
commitment that distinguishes him from those within
his profession.
“I
may never become one of the top scientists in my field, but that
is more by choice than because of capability,” Brian explains.
“One of the most valuable lessons I learned at Huntington was
that a balanced life is much more productive and fruitful than
devoting all my time to work.”
Brian’s
time spent at Huntington marked the beginning of his spiritual
life and to this day serves as the most important period of his
spiritual growth. He originally came to Huntington to play
basketball, but says that God had different plans.
“Preceding
my time spent at Huntington University, I knew how to be a Christian
but not why I was a Christian,” Brian says. “It was at
Huntington that I finally came to know Christ the way I know him
today. Not making the basketball team was one of the hardest
rejections I have ever experienced; it was life-changing in a
way.”
The
night he was cut from the basketball team, Brian says he had his
first real encounter with Christ and realized that the reason he
was at Huntington was to know the Lord.
Thanks
to the small class sizes at Huntington, Brian received
individualized attention from professors. He says the freedom to
explore topics which most interested him was invaluable. Most
importantly, though, it was the Christ-centered education that he
most appreciated.
“Many
scientists believe that every phenomenon can be explained with
enough time and thought – that evidence for everything is there,
just hidden,” Brian explains. “Thus to accept a concept such
as God, which cannot be substantiated physically or
mathematically, is nonsense. Huntington University prepared me as a
scientist to deal with this overwhelming atheistic mentality in
scientific research.”
Huntington University also prepared him to be fully ready for his future
endeavors. Upon graduation, Brian enrolled in the master’s
degree program in exercise physiology at Ball State University.
The benefits of his Huntington education became obvious to him
during his first semester. Brian says that in a Medical Physiology
course, he was “by far the most prepared student in the class,
which included several students with bachelor’s degrees in
pre-medicine.”
The
foundation of Christ-centered education that Brian received at
Huntington University will continue to shape his future endeavors.
Brian will finish his PhD at Karolinska Institute in
the fall of 2004 and will then
move to Massachusetts where he has accepted a position with the US
Army Research Institution for Environmental Medicine. In
his new position, Brian will work on research aimed at improving
the life of soldiers during times of extreme stress such as
combat, a job that will combine his passions of physiology,
exercise and performance, and the basic sciences.
|
