Keeping the Faith

ALUMNI DYLAN GRISWOLD CHS’11 SELECTED FOR GATES-CAMBRIDGE SCHOLARSHIP

“My time at Cathedral formed me as a student and as a Catholic,” wrote Dylan Griswold, CHS ’11 when sharing a bit of recent news with our alumni office. With such a compelling statement, we couldn’t wait to hear more and learn about Dylan’s accomplishments and how he feels his faith and Catholic education informed his life’s decisions.

Dylan has been awarded the prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. in clinical neurosciences as a member of the 2019 Class of Gates Cambridge Scholars at the University of Cambridge. He is one of only 34 recipients selected from across the U.S. to participate in this highly-competitive program. He plans to take a break from medical school to pursue a PhD at Cambridge as a recipient of this significant honor. The Scholars-elect represent 37 universities and will study and research subjects ranging from cybersecurity, choral music, and technology biases to neurotrauma in low-resource settings and skeletal stem cells. In addition to outstanding academic achievement, the program places emphasis on social leadership in its selection process as its mission is to create a global network of future leaders committed to improving the lives of others. An aspiring neurosurgeon, Dylan plans to use his Gates Cambridge Scholarship to research ways to improve neurosurgical techniques for traumatic brain injury, often referred to as TBI, in low-resource countries. In the future, he hopes to work with international governing bodies, such as the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO), ministries of health, community leaders, and local healthcare workers to address issues of health inequity and strengthen sustainable health systems around the world.

“I decided to become a neurosurgeon while I was in Haiti,” says Dylan, who is a third-year medical student at Stanford University and visited the country on a service trip in 2014. “The lack of safe and affordable access to neurosurgical care was tremendous. When I arrived at Stanford, my first goal was to develop a global

surgery program in the medical school.” For Dylan, setting goals and envisioning his future began to take shape very early on. “I’ve wanted to become a doctor since third grade,” he said. Upon graduating from Cathedral in 2011, he attended Williams College as a pre-med major

My faith is the most important aspect of my life, and I can very much see myself serving as a Jesuit priest/physician.”

– Dylan Griswold, CHS ’11

Education:

• Cathedral High School 2011 • Williams College 2015 B.A.

Chemistry • Stanford University 2021 Doctor of Medicine Neurosurgery

where he continued to also play baseball competitively. It was there, that his aspirations to continue playing baseball professionally after college graduation began to take priority. In preparation for a professional baseball tryout, Dylan took a trip to San Francisco the summer after his college sophomore year. The trip proved illfated when he tore a ligament in his elbow, requiring two surgeries. Unable to pitch, he turned to seeking out volunteer work to keep himself centered. A mentor pointed him to an AIDS hospice home operated by Mother Teresa’s order of nuns. It was there that he learned how to care for patients and began to understand more deeply how his Catholic faith informed his love for the ones who lay beside him. The seeds for his future were then firmly planted.

The following summer, he went to Haiti, where he was struck by the almost non-existent access to neurosurgical care. After spending the following year in the neurosurgery lab at UCSF, his desire to become a neurosurgeon took root. He matriculated to Stanford for medical school and developed an interest in connecting clinical practice with research and policy, leading to summer research at WHO in 2017.

When asked to identify one of his most important accomplishments thus far in medical school, Dylan is quick to note that perhaps unusual, he considers creating, along with his best friend Dillon Stull, a “pseudo-monastic” community for fellow medical and graduate students. “After spending a weekend at the Cistercian monastery in Vina, CA in the fall of 2017, we were inspired by the way the monks integrated both prayer and work. So, naturally, we turned my room into a chapel of sorts, bought an electric keyboard, and began praying Lauds seven days a week at 6:30am. We didn’t think anyone would join us, but word got around pretty quickly among the Catholics in the med school and other grad programs and suddenly we had nine or ten people knocking on my door at 6:25am!” Since its inception, the group now meets daily at 7:30am and 8:30am on Sundays. “The great thing about it is that prayer usually ends at 8am, but everyone sticks around to drink coffee and talk philosophy/theology for up to an additional hour!” He notes that an unexpected outcome is that many nonCatholics are regular attendees and at least five people have become Catholic since they started the group. “It is amazing to have a strong community who pray together each morning. It is the thing I will miss most… I am so filled with joy spending time with them,” he added.

This past summer, while at Cambridge, his team focused on surgical management of neurotrauma in low-resource settings. “I am tremendously grateful for the opportunity to continue working with the global neurotrauma team at Cambridge to develop best-practice guidelines for neurotrauma in low-resource settings,” Dylan said in reference to his selection as a Gates Cambridge Scholar. As an MD and PhD candidate, he aspires to become an academic leader capable of managing complex neurosurgical disease in addition to affecting policy to improve universal access to safe and affordable surgical care. A path that will draw on the same tenacity and focus he demonstrated as a Cathedral High School honors student athlete (Dylan was a three season Panther as a member of the indoor track, cross country and baseball teams). “I will take the next three years to complete a PhD and then I will return to Stanford where I will have 3 more years as a medical student - since I split both the first- and second-year’s curriculums in half. And then neurosurgery is a 7 to 8-year residency. It seems I will be training forever!” he exclaimed. But, as with most of his significant life decisions, Dylan credits his faith and early education at Cathedral with laying the foundation for his life’s path. “Most importantly, I give thanks to God that I chose abandoning myself to His plan for my life.”

And as a proud alma mater, we give thanks too!

Faith Matters: Class of 2019 Reflections on Faith

My Catholic education means …

“Being in a special environment that helps with preparing someone for a very special future.” – Maggie Farrell ’19

“Becoming closer with God and having the opportunity to reflect on the good and positive parts of our lives.” – Cormac Hayes ’19

“It strengthens my knowledge and belief in Christianity.” – Adam Juchniewicz ’19

“Being able to incorporate my religious morals into my education and being encouraged to be proud of my established relationship with God.” – Carli Liquori ’19

“Beginning and ending each day with a prayer.” – Rosemary Breault ’19