The School of Medicine Basic Sciences consists of a remarkable community that is dedicated to advancing the study of human biology, health, and disease. In addition to the award-winning faculty, postdocs, and students who are at the forefront of our cutting-edge research, a large part of our school’s success can be attributed to our staff.
Join us in recognizing and appreciating our staff members and the hard work they do to ensure exceptional exploration into basic biomedical science that takes place at our school.
We sat down with Ryan McNew, associate director of research IT, who told us a little about himself.
What do you do for the School of Medicine Basic Sciences?
I am the associate director of research IT in the School of Medicine Basic Sciences, which means that I am responsible for managing the support of research IT and audio-video implementations throughout the school.
How long have you been working for the School of Medicine Basic Sciences?
I have worked for Basic Sciences since November of 2022. I have been employed with Vanderbilt since Dec. 31, 1996.
What is unique about working for the School of Medicine Basic Sciences?
I love working for Basic Sciences because my job is never boring, nor is it routine. There are so many moving parts that are constantly in motion that I am never without something to do. I personally enjoy that and prefer to be running a million miles a minute, with my days rushing by, instead of sitting around wondering when the next work assignment will come up. Every day it feels like I learn at least one new nugget of information.
What is an upcoming project that you are looking forward to?
I have several exciting projects, but the one that I am most looking forward to is obtaining an accurate inventory of all the computers and network ports throughout the school. I have been slowly working on that since I was hired; however, we developed a quick and simple script that, when run on a computer, will pull the information that we need while being minimally invasive to the labs.
What is your favorite memory or project you completed during your time at Basic Sciences so far?
Wow… This is a tough one. Each project that I have been a part has had at least one fun or interesting story that goes along with it. Assisting in building out the fifth floor of the Engineering and Science Building was one project that I am very proud of. My favorite memory was assisting in the delivery of the new robot for the High-Throughput Screening Facility, we had to get creative to offload one of the very long boxes.
What is a professional or personal achievement that you are most proud of?
I run half marathons and in June I ran the Hatfield McCoy Blackberry Mountain Half Marathon for the fourth time. I had only had four training runs but ran it anyway. I came in second in my age division. This race runs up a mountain for a mile; it starts in Williamson, Kentucky, and ends in Matewan, West Virginia. The night before the race, I woke up and had a bout of food poisoning for around two hours. I still got up with the alarm and ran the race. My friends and family with me told me to call them from the course and they would come pick me up. My response? “See you at the finish line!”
What is a fun fact about you?
Where do I begin? I am related to the Hatfields. I am fascinated by aliens, UFOs, and cryptozoology, and have two alien tattoos (“alien” as in little green aliens, not the movie Alien). I am a Certified Bourbon Steward.
What activities to do you like to do outside of work?
I love to travel! Some of the countries I have visited are Scotland, Australia, South Africa, France, Italy, Switzerland, England, and Ireland.
What is your favorite motto?
I would say a motto would be: Never say no. I used to be very shy as a kid and missed out on things because I said no. Now, I’ll try just about anything once!