Ryan Clark (RC): Welcome everybody. It is the way podcast, the official podcast of the College of Health Sciences here at the University of Kentucky. I'm Ryan Clark, your director of communications.
Bernadette Cortez (BC): And I am Bernadette Cortez, director of recruitment.
RC: And Bernadette, we have a real treat for everybody today. I will say to them, I'll just I'll just put it in a couple of words. Researcher, father. Scientist. Student, nationally ranked table tennis player. I think that pretty much sets
BC: And I'm sure honestly, that there are more in there from everything that he's doing.
RC: Oh, that's true. I mean, the other was like marathoner.
BC: Yes.
RC: Did I say that right? Marathoner. Probably marathoner.
BC: And triathloner.
RC: Your boy here has never participated in. I don't really know how to say it.
RC: Yeah. Iron man athlete.
BC: That's crazy.
RC: But also almost, almost getting ready to be graduate of the RHP program here at the College of Health Sciences and a new owner of a PhD.
BC: Yes.
RC: For everybody who's wondering. Yes. Person. Yeah. One person can have all of those things. And so that's our latest guest this month on the Way podcast. Felipe Gonzalez Segal, who is currently finishing up his PhD in rehabilitation in health sciences here at the College of Health Sciences. He's a decorated student. He has published. He is also an athlete. And this is something that we didn't know. He helped start the table tennis club team here at the University of Kentucky, and they had some real success. So for all of those things, we thought, you know, we might just want to have him on the podcast. So this is it, right? Should we step aside here and let everybody get to meet one of our really, really fun students here that we've had here? This is Felipe from Chile. And how did he get here? We'll let everybody find out here on the Way Podcast.
Felipe Gonzalez (FG): I'm Felipe Gonzalez, I'm physiotherapist from Chile. I graduated from PT school in my country in 2011. My wife is also PT. We have a little daughter. She's going to be five years old this Monday. So. So yeah, we are from Chile is a very south South American country. At the end of the world, people say we moved to United States looking for my PhD. So, I was a clinician as a PT in the ICU intensive care unit. That is my area. So I work for ten, 12 years over there, including the pandemic. And then I started being interested in research, obviously in the same topic in the ICU and ICU rehab. So I decided after my master's program, I decided to move outside of Chile looking for better research support, you know, resources and everything related to that. And this was a good opportunity. The University of Kentucky has an ICU recovery clinic, which is not common in the world. So, I moved here to the program of the Rehab and Health sciences in the in the College of Health Sciences, of the physical therapy department. So, I'm here. I never thought that I will be playing table tennis again.
My story in the in sport is a little bit long. I started playing futbol. Soccer here. Basketball like everyone does from, you know, from the beginning. And then there was like a workshop every week in my school when I was in secondary or high school of table tennis, which is very unusual because table tennis is not considered like in the population, like our sport, or like a common sport. It's like a basement, a game in the, you know, in the general public for the general population. So I saw that I was interested and I started playing after watching World Championship in my country that was hosted in my country, and it was amazing. So it was like, okay, I want to play this. Seriously. I started with that. I played for ten years, then I stopped for ten years. Multiple reasons, probably PT school and everything else. And I did marathon for five years. I run nine complete marathon and then and then triathlon with 4 or 5 races of Iron Man. That was
RC: Oh my God. Okay, there's so much to get into here.
FG: That was a different chapter in my life. I don't know how my my wife, my family tolerate everything because I, I'm very active. I do a lot of things during the day
RC: You do a lot of things. You're very. How old are you now, Philippe?
FG: I'm 39. Well, 38, turning 39 this year, I think. Sorry. So.
RC: Well, welcome to the podcast. First off, that is a you've got a lot going on. You've had a lot going on. We'll get we'll get to hopefully all of this in a second. I'm fascinated, real quick though, and I think Bern, we always kind of start at the start and Felipe at you, so you grew up in Chile and tell me if I'm saying that correctly. So you're in Chile. This is, as I would expect, probably soccer, futbol for you guys, soccer the biggest thing probably in Chile right.
FG: Yeah.
RC: But then also you know basketball is a huge thing now around the world as well. What I didn't expect was table tennis. We'll get to that in a second. Although you know my introduction to table tennis is Forest Gump basically that's that's mine. But that's kind of my age group. But like so you're growing. Did you grow up in Chile? Is that where you is that where you're born? That's where you grow up.
FG: Yeah.
RC: Okay. How do you get from Chile? And did you know anything about Kentucky? What did you know about Kentucky? First off.
FG: Yeah. Okay. Well, that's a good, interesting answer that I'm going to say because, well, if if I ask my friends right now, my family about what do you know about Kentucky, they would say Kentucky Fried Chicken.
RC: That makes sense.
FG: So because we have that is big chain in the world and we have a lot of those stores over there. So that's the only thing that I knew from Kentucky, but I was using at that time, like in 2021, it was pandemic going on. I saw a post in Twitter before X when it was Twitter from my current advisor, Kirby Mayer. They were looking for, they were offering a position of PhD student research assistant. So it was like, okay, they have a good team. They work in the ICU recovery clinic. They have experience in my field. They have a PhD offer. So, it was everything was perfect and I was not actively looking for some places. I had some conversation with people in Canada or Australia. But this offer in Twitter was very interested and I went for it. Application everything.
RC: Do you go then and do you just start going online and you're like
FG: Online.
RC: And you're like, everything I can absorb about where I'm going to move to. You know, you learn as much as possible about what this place is other than apparently they cook a lot of fried chicken in this place. So, like, you know, whenever I've traveled Bern, whenever people talk about Kentucky, it was for me, it was always Muhammad Ali and KFC. That's what I all that's what people knew. There wasn't even like horses. It wasn't horses. It wasn't bad.
FG: Or Borbon.
RC: or the Bourbon. It wasn't any of that. Do you get that Bernadette?
FG: I got that from my my current advisor from Kirby because he, he did a couple of presentations to Chile online for a couple of training courses that we have. And we I invite him before I, well, before I started the PhD, before I move, I started collaborating with him.
RC: Okay.
FG: I was at least from, you know, online. I was involved in what is Kentucky and he's from Kentucky. So he was telling me about bourbon and basketball from UK, you know, horses. And also before I move with my family, I came the year before alone for two weeks to know the city.
RC: Oh that's good.
FG: Yeah.
RC: So I was going to say so. Philippe. So Bernadette is our world traveler. So all the places that you've been Bern, is that what you get when you tell them you're from Kentucky?
BC: I would say, yeah, Kentucky Fried Chicken is always. And it's just fun because you can just say United States. And when you say where Kentucky, they don't know where, but they know of Kentucky Fried Chicken. And then it's always fun to be like the home of Kentucky Fried Chicken. I live about an hour and a half away from their Corbin, Kentucky, so I sometimes I would take some people to Corbin, Kentucky to show my this is where KFC was born.
RC: That's funny.
BC: But and then it depends. I have some. My neighbor is from Japan and he talks a lot about bourbon. And I was like, that's just it's crazy because I just didn't think that our bourbon made it to Japan. But he knew all about it. And unless he's fascinated with bourbon and then came here to learn more, but it's always a surprise what they've heard of.
FG: Well, one in Japan, they know a lot of about whiskey. They have good with only they, they have some. It's like me and Chile. I know a lot of about wines, red wine. So I know which other countries are good on that.
BC: That is because it's something about like, not all bourbon is whiskey or not all whiskey is bourbon. I don't know if people are getting mad about that because I have not always
RC: A squares and a rhombus is, I don't know.
BC: Yeah, it's something I'm aware of the statement, I just don't know what it is.
RC: Yeah. So so the other thing that we're always interested in is, excuse me, is how were you always inclined to health care? How did you get into this discipline? What was your was that always your goal?
FG: You mean ICU?
RC: Yeah. Or just just healthcare in general? What? What led you down that path? Were you always wanting to help people or how did that go?
FG: I think well, the quick answer is the connection was the sport. I was an athlete 20 years ago doing table tennis. And then I was training six eight hours per day having tournaments every other week.
RC: Wow.
FG: I was in a high level training, so I was interested in sport at that time. Before I started the PT school, I thought about sport psychology or kinesiology, which is PT. Here is the same in in Chile. In Chile we are kinesiology but is physical therapist. So I finally decided because of physical therapy because well because of sport interest. But then I never work in sport area. I really was in love with the ICU environment. It was very challenging for me. So I don't know. That was my decision at that time. And and now I'm I'm happy with that.
RC: So now you're here at, at UK and you have been here now for how long?
FG: This is my I will I will complete three years the summer.
RC: So in that three years, I think we should probably say that we should probably know that you've had some other success off the court. We'll get on to that in a second. But let's talk about real quick the Robinson Graduate Award for Research Creativity, which was last year. Congratulations on that.
FG: Thank you.
RC: There's also been published while you have been a student here for your research. Congratulations on that. So this isn't just a pretty face Bern. This guy is. He's doing stuff while he's here now. But. So the thing that you've been published for most recently is you joined after, I believe, a ten year lay off the table tennis club team here at the University of Kentucky. One didn't know that we had that. Two. I just think it's so interesting because I believe you've said this before. Correct me if I'm wrong. This was your chance to kind of be a college athlete and amateur athlete for the last time, and you wanted to take advantage of that. And so tell us how that came about and and what that was like. Again, this is great publicity for the the club team. I didn't even know we had this.
FG: Well we haven't but now. Well, yeah, the story is long because in Santiago, in the city where I grow up is a big city. It's like New York size. So there are a lot of even table tennis is not common sport. There are a lot of clubs. So before I move, I don't know why I started playing table tennis like six months before I move. I don't know why after ten years, no playing, nothing about table tennis. And then so when I was moving, I started asking people in Facebook or looking for a class here in Lexington, and I say probably in Lexington, there is no club. And I found a club which is the only one formal table tennis club is a Lexington Table Tennis Club located mainly located in a Nicholasville. They have another venue, but it's in Nicholasville.
RC: Okay.
FG: It's in a church. It's a big place. We have nine tables over there and then. So that was the only connection with table tennis. And I went the first year living here. We haven't we have no car. So it was very hard to to move around the city and, you know, go through through the winter. But I receive a lot of help from people of that club. I became like the best player in the Lexington Table Tennis Club because they use a national rating in the United States, so the level was not that high compared with Santiago. But I have made very good friends over there. And one of those, friend Cruz Cardona, he was a student at UK and he's currently working for UK as a technician in a in a lab. And he was starting playing table tennis. And with him and other people, we, we created the table tennis club for UK.
RC: Very cool.
FG: They have clubs like informal club clubs before like years ago I across these three years I have no people retired people like they were table tennis player before like 50 years ago, 40 years ago. But now we have a formal class and we because of that, we were able to participate in the NCTA, the National College Table Tennis Association championship, which is the main college. It's like the NCAA for, for basketball or other sport for table tennis.
RC: Right.
FG: So, yeah.
RC: So evidently you were pretty good at this. You guys were good.
FG: Yeah. Well, now we have good players around town and we are competing. We are playing tournaments across the Midwest area. We have we well, this if you go to California, you will have better table tennis for sure. Like if you go to Texas they have very good table tennis club. But here in our area is still very scarce to have clubs. So we have to drive three hours to Knoxville or Columbus, Ohio or Indianapolis. You know, there are clubs around, but all of them three hours away.
RC: So is this something now that's going to sustain? Is the club now that you have used up kind of your eligibility here? Like is this something that's going to keep going? Is it something that you think.
FG: We are in conversations. Because right now we we well for UK table tennis is nothing. So we have had almost nothing of support actually this like three weeks ago we received an email that we have to move all the tables out from the place. We had a pot to storage the tables. That was a problem from the beginning. So we can play in some places, but
RC: Where do you put them?
FG: We had six tables for the club and now we don't have any place to storage them. It sounds crazy because UK is still so big. We have email everyone across the campus and no help. So we had to sell most of them. We had to move the tables around and we are and I'm I'm moving probably I'm you know, I'm graduating this summer.
RC: Sure.
FG: So we will evaluate at the end of the summer if we want to keep going. The next semester because yeah.
RC: So we need somebody really to pick it up.
FG: There are three people that they are interested, but probably not enough for a club. So we yeah, we are in conversations. But I think we we already had a very good season competing in the National and representing UK for the first time the last two years we did that. So I think it was a very good start and very good opportunity for future generations.
RC: That is really cool. Let's let's expand on that just real quick. So and this is not a small thing. So the past two years you were able to advance to those championships and represent UK for the first time. That's super cool. That's well done. Congratulations on that. And were you able to advance in those tournaments at all?
FG: Yeah. Well there are open tournaments. I play like one two tournaments per month. But those are open tournaments. But for college there are four for big tournaments, two divisions, one regional and then one championship, which is a national. The two divisions were in Columbus, three hours away. The first year the regional was in Missouri, Saint Louis, and this year the regional was in Iowa. Yeah. Iowa City and the National was in Rockford, Illinois.
RC: You've gotten to see quite a bit in the Midwest as a table tennis player.
FG: Yes. So the first division that we play was like the purpose was, okay, we are representing UK. This is the first experience. So just play and I qualify as singles for the regional, which was unexpected because the level was was good enough. You know, compared with what we have here in Kentucky, we competed in the division against ten different colleges across the Ohio Midwest, and then I qualify to the regional, and I qualified for two years to the national. From the regional, I was number 6 or 5 of the region. So it was very, very good unfortunately. But as a team, we couldn't qualify for the national, but we qualify to the regional the two last years.
RC: So that sounds pretty good for a first time. So and you yourself were able to go and participate in the in the nationals. So that's that's got to be an experience.
FG: So yeah it was good. That's cool.
RC: And all this is going on at the same time that you're also oh by the way a PhD student. And oh by the way a father.
FG: Yeah. Yeah. Well.
RC: And has a family.
FG: We have been talking about table tennis right now, but that is very secondary for me. I'm not training, I'm just practicing a couple of days in a week, like Thursdays and Sundays. Not always, but. So I'm keeping my level. I'm. Yeah. I'm not actively doing sport right now. I'm not running like before. I was crazy runner when I was doing marathon and triathlon. I miss that. But now my focus is PHD and obviously family and family support is is very important. That's something that I want to highlight.
BC: I play table tennis. I don't really follow the rules. So if it bounces twice, am I getting it off the table? Trick shot. You know, like I did, touches a net. I bend over and I know in table tennis, like you can't like move the table because I don't like it.
FG: Yeah.
BC: Gets a rule. Yeah. And I'm all over that I am, I'm all over that. And then to serve it, what does it have to be like 6 or 7in high.
FG: Yeah.
BC: Mine's like two. Like I'm barely. Can you imagine throwing it up and then like, the coordination that you would need is absolutely insane. How I, I just can't believe it's not something that you've been doing for, like, forever. It's just been like. Yeah, practicing and training and playing, and here you go.
RC: Have you guys seen Marti Supreme?
FG: I not not yet. Yeah, I have to watch that.
RC: You definitely need to see it because you will be into it for sure.
FG: Yeah, I know his story before the movie.
RC: Yeah.
FG: Yeah. This were table tennis. Have had a lot of changes across the time and rules as you say, Bern a lot of changes on the rules. The year 2000 onwards attained like the size of the ball is bigger because of the speed is the speed of the sport has been increasing because of technology of the robbers of the blade. So they try to keep the sport slower to be able to, you know, people come, come watch that in the in the TV.
BC: A lot of action is happening back and forth and I don't know how are they referees? Is that.
FG: Yeah.
BC: I don't know how they're like oh yeah that was six inches or oh no the palm the ball or didn't show the ball or something. It's like everything's happening so fast. I don't know how they have their eyes to be watching that.
FG: Well, now they are using the same system in other sport, like the TT review or the VAR. You know, the VAR or they. It's the same thing, especially for serves, because there are a lot of rules. When you throw with the the, you know, the ball have to be less than 30 degrees of the angle from the hand. It's like in volleyball. In volleyball is the same. The ball should be straight up, but sometimes they request the even the coach or the player or the referee. They can request the TT review. And actually right now they are playing London, the World Team Championship, which is a, you know, best players in the world that you're playing over there.
RC: That's cool.
FG: They are playing London where table tennis is born, which is very interesting. And right now is playing Japan against Germany in the men's side.
RC: Wow.
FG: Yeah.
BC: I love when I see that and I see other countries that are participating. And it's just fun to know that that sport is all throughout the world and everyone has, you know, experts in that particular field. I think that's cool.
FG: Yeah.
RC: So I'm going to ask this might be a ridiculous question, but hey, it just fits in with all the rest of the stuff that I would ask, but like so. All right. Felipe, is there a similarity or are there similar characteristics that are needed for being an athlete, doing what you have done over the course of your life, and also being a PhD student in College of Health Sciences? I feel like on a meta level where we're talking about like just determination, work ethic, you know, seeing a goal through to the end. I feel like there are I feel like there's a certain mentality that is necessary for both. Or am I reading too much into this?
FG: Yeah, I think you are right.
RC: Sweet.
FG: Yeah. No, it's. Yeah, you're. That's true for sure I totally agree.
RC: I just, I feel like this is something that you have to have and that you have. And then it's obvious because of all the things that you've done.
FG: Yeah. And specifically for table tennis, I just want to mention that we always say that ping pong is a basement game. Table tennis is a sport, is an Olympic sport, but also table tennis right now, the last ten years have been part of interventions for Alzheimer's and dementia.
RC: Really?
FG: Yeah, even in the United States, there are groups that they are working on using table tennis, like a big intervention or part of the bundle of intervention for those populations. And because you need a lot of cognitive strategy, you know, all the feed the athlete performance all together. So that's is, you know, comparable with what we need to do a PhD and to, you know, to have resilience. I think that there are a lot of things in common, as you say.
RC: So that is fascinating that are there currently people using table tennis to help those with dementia?
FG: Yeah.
RC: That is unbelievable.
FG: Yeah. Actually there was I think last year there is another student, PhD student from China. He was a player when he was a child. And he's he has been playing with us in the class and he played with me to, he appeared last year in the UK now, you know UK now right.
RC: Yeah.
FG: A post related to like a big story related to how he is using table tennis for biomedical field. And it was very interested. I recommend you to.
RC: Cool.
FG: Yeah. But that is to say one example that not going far away, but there are many countries that they are using table tennis for treatments.
RC: Wow. So what then? This leads us into, you know, let's get more into the academic side of this. But can you tell us kind of like we're kindergartners, like, what is your research that you're working on and what will you be defending later on this summer?
FG: Okay. Yeah. My well, my passion, academic passion is the ICU people over there. They have to be in the bed for a long time. They have to receive drugs, sedation, neuromuscular blockers, vaso active. A lot of, you know, steroids. And then they have to be in there in the bed with mechanical ventilation. So respiratory muscles and peripheral muscles are, you know, doing nothing for a long time.
RC: Right.
FG: So when they wake up, not like in movies or series, but they wake up very weak and, and we already know in the field that up to five years they, they, they still have some sequels like physical and cognitive sequels. We talk about the passing care syndrome, which comprise physical, mental and cognitive sequels because of the ICU. So we try to do rehab and to do we have we have to understand how is the muscle recovery. That's my area muscle recovery. So we try to track which variables are more important to predict or to recognize when a patient needs to increase, decrease the amount of rehab. So specifically what I'm doing is is studying different variables from respiratory muscle or peripheral muscle, how that impacts the muscle function or physical function.
RC: And where does this go? What's the what's the future look like? You know, after you get up and you you give this amazing defense and they say, all right, you're now a doctor. PHD Doctor Felipe. Then what?
FG: Yeah, that that's the I'm. I would say I'm not a future person. Always hard to say what is going to happen. Well, for everyone. But for me, it's very hard to predict that. But in the short term, I know I'm going to do. I have an offer in Michigan State University to do a postdoc, so I will be doing a postdoc to continue and try to get, you know, more independence on research here in the United States. I have to, you know, I have to try to get a green card visa, things that are probably in the future citizenship. I have to improve my English first.
BC: You're speaking well.
FG: this is this is my first time ever that I'm speaking English. You know, when I moved to United States was the first time that I had really classes of English. I had better French than English. So it was has been a big challenge for me. So that's for the near future. Having doing postdoc to get that independence, you know, for, for for research. Because if you want to get grants for, you know, research opportunities, the being an international student is very limited. The kind of options that I can, I can apply for. So yeah, I'm working on that.
RC: I wonder if they have a table tennis club team in Michigan State.
FG: Well I they will I obviously.
BC: They will.
FG: I already asked them and I contact them. They say we are waiting for you.
RC: Well, there you go.
FG: So, Michigan in the state in that state they have probably better table tennis on average because they have bigger cities.
RC: Sure.
FG: But I'm moving to Grand Rapids probably.
RC: I've got some family up in Grand Rapids, so.
FG: Oh, really? There is a small club there, so. Yeah, I already contact them.
RC: There is. Let's see, what's the. There's a couple of other universities that are up in that area.
FG: Well, University of Michigan.
RC: Like Grand Valley State is up there. There's also another I can't remember off the top of my head, but that is really good. We're we're waiting for you. So. Well, I think that is I mean, we've already been going for 35 minutes, Bernadette.
BC: So that's great.
RC: I am just amazed that you actually agreed to do a podcast when you weren't really that confident about your. And you speak very well.
BC: Yeah, you're very well spoken.
RC: It's great.
BC: And if I, when I would go and travel, I would try to learn some of the, the phrases, the sayings when traveling and it would be hard for me to remember them. And I'm probably not doing it correctly. And so I would like okay, I can visualize it and I remember and you can carry on conversations using words that people don't think to translate. I know in your brain it's working differently. So you are very well spoken every like you know always goal. It's like, I'm going to get better at this. I'm going to get better at this. But do not let that hold you or you're doing fabulous.
RC: If anybody at Michigan State wants to have you on a podcast, you just say, yes.
BC: Yes, 100%.
RC: So in the end, Philippe, we always like to ask people, your experience here in the College of Health Sciences at the University of Kentucky is wrapping up. We are thrilled that you have spent time with us. It's been just from a personal standpoint. It's been fun kind of chronicling your accomplishments while you've been here, what is your advice to some others who are thinking about doing similar things, whether they're getting into your program or not, but if they're just interested in coming to RHP, coming to the College of Health Sciences, coming to the University of Kentucky. What do you tell them?
RC: If they have family families? Most important thing if they don't, it will be the most important thing. That's the first thing. The second thing is more academic. I think that you have to be sure what you want to do in the future. I know I say I'm not a future person, but for doing a PhD, you have multiple options. You can do, you know, teaching or research or service things, or you can work in a like a manager or administrative things. You can do whatever. But PhD is just connections that you are doing. So I think that collaborations, connections with other people, I never thought this never happened in Chile, in Chile is very limited to have collaborations, even if you want to do. There are no opportunities for that. Here, I have had connection with different states and different people, different universities, not only because of table tennis. I'm talking about academics and yeah, that's the most important thing. So be ready. Be ready for collaboration and be open for that. That is I think that is important to grow up.
RC: Great advice. That's great advice. So Bernadette, did we did we remember everything? Did we get it? Felipe, thank you so much. This is just. We love to have people on here who have interesting stories. You definitely have that. What's interesting to me is that we could have just talked about one aspect, and I think that would have been very interesting. But altogether I just think this is great, great representative of what we got going on at the university. Thank you so much.
FG: Yeah. Thank you for you all. Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity.
BC: For the record, I would like to apologize for calling myself a table tennis player that doesn't follow the rules. I believe I qualify under the ping pong is what I play in the basement. So if I offended anybody thinking I was a table tennis athlete, I am sorry because I do not do that. I, he for everybody that’s like I got to work on my dissertation. I have to do this. I have to do this. He's doing all that stuff. And then like, I'm gonna practice eight hours on Thursday, or I'm going to practice six hours on Sunday. And I just can't believe all the stuff that Felipe has accomplished.
RC: I think that's a good caveat to have onto this. Yeah, I found out that apparently what I have played is ping pong.
BC: Yeah.
RC: I have, I have never played. Have you seen, I don't know, like you can go on YouTube. You can watch these guys as their plan. Like this is a cardio event.
BC: Oh yeah.
RC: They are moving.
RC: And if you play like devils, you got to go every other one. And it's just like after a while you do something so repetitive you kind of forget. I feel like I forget what I'm doing. And then I put my head into it. But you can't. You just gotta let it happen.
RC: I'm watching it and I don't see the ball. The ball disappeared.
BC: That's what I'm saying.
RC: Oh, look where they're going. What are they doing?
BC: Yeah, hand eye coordination to the max.
RC: Like, on top of all that, we also have just a really successful academic student. Yeah, it was doing some really interesting work, stuff that really matters to him. Stuff that's really going to matter to a lot of people. And I mean, this is what this is about, this is what RHP is about, is what College of Health Science is about. And this is why we like to feature these kinds of stories on this podcast. So.
BC: And it makes me excited because I want to actually go and look at the research that everybody is doing. Because I didn't put together table tennis into dementia patients like I did. And yeah, it's just it's the coolest thing honestly.
RC: That is that is very cool. Yeah. And then I know it sounds silly, but there really is a connection between anybody who does anything, whether it's athletic, whether it's academic, you know, whatever your goal is that you have, if you have a long term goal and you have to have a lot of discipline and a lot of work ethic to be able to see that through, there are similarities between everything that he's doing. I don't think people see that from the beginning, but it really is true. And when you talk to them, you're like, oh, that that person got a lot of passion for a lot of things.
BC: Yeah. And he sees I know he doesn't want to be like a future, like what's going to happen in future because you really don't know. But I love that he knows there are multiple paths, kind of is aware of an end goal that he wants to do, and if he's not, he knows that I would. I'm interested in continuing to do this and we'll see what that takes me and whatever route and path he takes to get there, so be it. Which I think is is great.
RC: Just another person that we can all look to and be like, this is a great representative of where we are, College of Health Sciences, that's where it's at. Everybody, thank you to Felipe for making time in the middle of working and try to his his PhD thesis. We thank you, Felipe. Thanks to you, Bernadette.
RC: Thanks to you, Ryan.
RC: Thanks to all those people out there who are listening. And next month we'll be back with another here on the Way podcast here at the College of Health Sciences at the University of Kentucky. Bye.
BC: Bye.
This has been The Way Podcast, the official podcast of the University of Kentucky's College of Health Sciences. The way is written and produced by Ryan Clark, Bernadette Cortez, Sam Reynolds, and Will. Join us next month for another episode of The Way. Brought to you by UK's College of Health Sciences, your gateway to the health professions.