From refugee to future doc

New Fredonia graduate opens next educational chapter at medical school

It’s hard to imagine a more head-spinning journey than the one being taken by Mam Deng, a newly minted Fredonia graduate with a B.S. in Molecular Genetics. Suggesting that where he came from and where he’s heading are literally worlds apart is no exaggeration.

Mam (pronounced “Mum”), son of Gabryal and Awar Deng, was born in war-torn Sudan, wound up in a refugee camp with his family in Egypt in 1999 and then immigrated to the United States two years later. In August, Mam entered the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo.

Three older siblings died as a result of poor health conditions or war. Tuberculosis claimed the lives of several young cousins and many family members living in what is now South Sudan continue to suffer from a variety of preventable diseases. Seeing how one person – the surgeon at Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital – saved his father’s life was a life-altering experience for Mam, then in eighth grade.

“During that period, I spent countless hours in the hospital learning about how it functions and becoming close to one of the doctors that gave my dad his liver transplant. After all was said and done, I thanked him for having helped save my dad’s life and keeping my family together and he told me that it was his privilege and that I had changed his life more than I could ever know,” Mam explained.

“That experience is what convinced me that being a doctor is what I wanted to do,” he said. “I could not believe how one person could change lives so frequently and so deeply.”

New home in Buffalo

Soon after resettling in Buffalo in 2001, the Deng family began to receive medical care at Jericho Road Health Center, a major community clinic whose patients are mostly immigrants and refugees. Its founder, Dr. Myron L. Glick, became a mentor to Mam during the summer after his sophomore year at Fredonia. He was able to shadow Dr. Glick for entire days at a time, seeing directly how essential his clinic’s services were to a community and how close relationships were formed between a physician and his/her patients.

Beginning in high school, Mam had several experiences that strengthened his commitment to pursue a career in medicine, but his Jericho Road experience was clearly the most influential.

“Shadowing Dr. Glick allowed me to experience what it’s like to make a diagnosis, what it’s based off of, and how to treat someone based on whatever information you’re given,” Mam said. He also gained a preview of the business side of a clinic’s operations and the challenges to achieve efficiencies while still spending enough time with patients.

Recognizing the role that the Jericho Road health center plays in the community further solidified Mam’s desire to become a doctor.

“The depth of the doctor-patient interactions was surreal. There was a mutual trust and respect between my doctor and every single patient he saw regardless of a language barrier, socioeconomic status or race. To each patient or family, we were like close friends,” Mam said. It wasn’t unusual for patients to invite Glick and Mam to weddings, funerals and graduations.

Like many children of refugees relocating to Buffalo, Mam enrolled in Public School No. 45 International School. His fourth grade teacher detected great academic potential and helped facilitate Mam’s acceptance, the following year, into the academically rigorous City Honors School.

Mam had no English language skills when he arrived in Buffalo and his family continued to speak their native Dinka at home. But Mam soaked up the new language wherever he found it: Catholic church services, “Sesame Street” and other PBS television programs geared to children, even comic books. He also learned English from a Jehovah’s Witnesses member who knocked at their door one day and wound up visiting their house every weekend to read the Bible.

Fredonia tops SUNY schools list

The search for a college was wide and included “a bunch of SUNY schools,” Mam remembers. But he says there was something different about Fredonia; it had a unique feel to it. During a weekday campus visit, Mam had the opportunity to shadow a student and close friend, Aman Kumar, who went on to dental school. That’s when he was introduced to Biology professor Scott Ferguson.

What Mam discovered were science faculty members, starting with Dr. Ferguson, who were “very realistic and very supportive.”

“Every school tries to sell itself (to prospective students), but I could tell from meeting Dr. Ferguson that the expertise was available and that they genuinely cared about the success of me on a personal level, and that was throughout the entire department.”

Admittedly, Mam struggled academically during his first semester – a particularly challenging time for his family – but quickly found his stride and began to thrive in the classroom, where his GPA began to soar, and in research with Biology professor Nicholas Quintyne. “He quickly realized that he’d have to work hard to achieve his goal, and really just pushed himself hard,” Dr. Quintyne said.

Mam relished the “very hands-on learning” at the Science Center and its extensive resources, such as state-of-the-art microscopes and access to technology more commonly found in large research universities.

“I’ve got access to that as an undergraduate, which is really cool!”

Midway into his sophomore year, Mam was accepted into Dr. Quintyne’s lab. He initially conducted tests to assess the effects of antioxidants and carcinogens, and he did research in subsequent semesters designed to understand how cancer works and how it upsets normal cellular processes as tumors progress.

For his senior capstone experience, Mam was engaged with Quintyne in advanced-level research, examining the mechanism by which centrosome clustering occurs. The presence of more than two centrosomes cells can generate a multipolar spindle, which can lead to errors in the genome, and is seen as a hallmark of tumor progression, Quintyne explained.

“Mam’s part of the project involves taking a normal, non-cancer line and inducing extra centrosome formation before examining clustering in action. We’ve made some great progress on this project in the last year,” Quintyne reported. “The better understanding we have of the clustering mechanism and of the ways cancer cells can break it, the better we can use that information as a tool to fight cancer progression.”

Having five semesters of lab research under his belt will definitely make Mam stand out compared to many of his peers that he will encounter as he enters medical school, Quintyne said.

“Mam is that great combination - hard working and dedicated to his studies, but relaxed in his demeanor and very easy to get along with. He listens to people; he's willing to take whatever he hears into consideration. He's not afraid to put out his opinion, but does so by backing up his opinion with information he's gathered. I can see that he will be able to relate to his patients and has the sincerity and demeanor to make them at ease with whatever he is doing,” Quintyne said.

Quintyne, who’s also Mam’s academic advisor, emphasizes the importance of doing well in class and “understanding everything,” Mam says. Quintyne has also played a supportive role with matters that have arisen in Mam’s personal life.

“I’ve always called him my ‘science father.’ I feel very close to him and he genuinely cares about my success.”

Serving other students

Biology professor Scott Medler believes the challenges that Mam faced while growing up have helped to make him the very empathetic young man that he says Mam is today. Even after being accepted at UB, Mam continued to serve as a Biology and Chemistry tutor in the Learning Center and remained active in the Department of Biology’s new Student Ambassador Program, which pairs first-year students with successful upper-class students.

“He's invested in helping them and doesn't get anything out of it more than his own personal satisfaction,” Dr. Medler said.

“One of the reasons I recruited Mam (to Student Ambassadors) is that early on he experienced some academic struggles of his own,” Medler said. That dramatic improvement speaks to Mam’s self-reflection and perseverance, he noted. “If he isn’t achieving the results he wants, he makes changes and finds ways to improve.”

Mam’s leadership roles include president and vice president of the Korean International Student Society, president and secretary of the Health Professions Club and president and founder of the African Student Union. He was also inducted into the campus chapter of Beta Beta Beta, the biology national honor society.

Through connections made at National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions meetings, Biology professor Ted Lee secured funding to cover the cost of the Kaplan MCAT Prep course for one Fredonia student during the 2017-2018 academic year. A written essay and financial need were the criteria used by the Health Professions Advising Committee for choosing a recipient, who turned out to be Mam.

MCAT prep courses provide a structured program for studying for the critical exam, as well as resources and practice exams, and are highly recommended, according to Dr. Lee. Pre-med students typically enroll in a MCAT course, which can retail between $1,500 and $2,499.

Mam also excelled in Philosophy courses, so much so, that he had a minor in the discipline, as well as in Chemistry. He remembers being “intellectually challenged” by SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Stephen Kershnar. “He helped me in my ability to absorb the points of view of everyone around me.” Dr. Kershnar also assisted Mam in the medical school application process, including interview preparation.

Kershnar, chair of the Department of Philosophy, found Mam to be “intellectually curious, very sharp, funny, likeable, and a formidable debater. His sharpness complements his intellectual curiosity and together they make him a pleasure to talk to and have in class,” Kershnar said.

“In class and in conversation, he asks interesting and insightful questions. His questions often reflect his different areas of interest and his science background.”

While in high school, Mam became involved in AmeriCorps at Peace of the City, a Buffalo-based program that assists youth from disadvantaged backgrounds who lack positive adult role models.

He also teamed up with a cousin to create a non-profit organization to raise awareness of suffering in his native homeland. That organization went on to build a water well in the South Sudan city of Aweil.

Mam is the first member of his family to attend college. A sister, Ateang, will be a sophomore Business major at another SUNY school this fall, and a brother, Atem, a graduate of Hutchinson Central Technical High School, will enter college to study History. He also has three younger brothers and a sister.