2020 National Student Researcher of the Year top ten finalist J. Tyler Ramsey, (‘22)

J. Tyler Ramsey, MS-II, has been named a 2020 National Student Researcher of the Year Top Ten Finalist, an award presented by COSGP and AACOM. Ramsey is the lead researcher in a study on the impact of essential oils on breast growth – initially in boys, but the study now includes girls.

His research career began in the Honors College at Appalachian State University as a Chemistry Major and continued after graduation as a Post-Baccalaureate IRTA (Intramural Research Training Award) Fellow at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Research Triangle Park, NC. It gained worldwide media recognition and was picked up by major media outlets including Time Magazine, Forbes, the BBC and hundreds of others in March 2018 after Ramsey was invited to present an Oral Presentation and Press Conference at the 100th Annual Endocrine Society’s National Conference in Chicago, IL.

“Being involved with a research project like this does add ‘one more thing’ to my long list of responsibilities as a medical student and contributes to the stress of balancing everything,” said Ramsey, “but I've realized the opportunities I have now will impact my career forever. It is truly flattering to have these experiences so early in my career.”

In addition to Tyler’s research commitments, he serves as the SGA Vice-President at Campbell Medicine, is the Treasurer for the Campbell Medicine Alumni Association, an active member of the Internal Medicine Club, and is a co-founder of the new club Campbell Med Pride.

The research team has tested specific components of essential oils to try and identify which ones are contributing to the increase in breast tissue growth. Their research shows that some essential oil compounds enhance the activity of estrogen (female sex hormone) while inhibiting the activity of androgen (male sex hormone). Although they have received some pushback from the essential oil industry, they observed breast growth in adolescents when persistently using hygiene commodities such as lotions, shampoos, detergents and other products that contain essential oils – not just direct oil applications.

They are now shifting the focus as to if the breast tissue growth is epidemiological and/or genetic. For example, the Hispanic population seems more susceptible, but is this because they’re using more essential oils and products, or is there a genetic correlation?

Ramsey and his Principal Investigator, Dr. Kenneth Korach, have been invited to submit a research review article to the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine and are currently in the peer-review process with an anticipated publication date later this spring. This provided the opportunity to expand the research scope to look at all essential oils and their health effect as well as invite fellow Campbell Medicine students – Carrie Shropshire, MS-II; Tibor Nagy, MS-III, and Kevin Chambers, MS-III– to join the project as well.

He encourages anyone who is wanting to pursue medicine to disregard stigmas in the field that only the “elite” achieve success. “You don’t have to be the smartest and brightest of the class. As long as you have a good work ethic and baseline intelligence, you’ll be fine. And I can speak for that because I was that person, I was not the most brilliant person there ever was.”

“I have been fortunate to have three great research mentors (Dr. Nathan Mowa and Dr. Jennifer Cecile from Appalachian State, and Dr. Ken Korach at NIH) and the huge amount of opportunities that have been presented to me. Some students may not have seized those opportunities or taken them the direction I have, but I am driven. I could've passed up opportunities to keep this research going, but I haven't. And now I have the opportunity to pull some of my fellow medical students into the project, and what began at NIH I’m proud to continue at Campbell University.”

- SHELLEY HOBBS