Q&A with Ryan McNamara

We’re excited to welcome Principal Research Scientist Ryan McNamara to the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases (IID)! To get to know him better, we asked him a few questions about his research and the path that led him to a career in science.

From science fairs to postdoctoral research, what first interested you in science and how did you get started in your career?

My first interest in science was building and launching model rockets with my father when I was a kid. He bought me a few starter kits, and he and I built them together. We joined a local rocket club and fired them off on Saturday mornings. When something went wrong, I took it kind of personally and wanted to correct whatever went wrong. There was nothing more gratifying to me than seeing a successful launch and recovery after a failure. Being part of a local model rocket group also taught me the value of working together on complex problems. There were a lot of families within this group, and a lot of young kids like myself. We all learned from each other. I would gladly tell others of the failures I had because I didn’t want others to go through the same frustrations, and they did so with me, sharing hurdles they were experiencing and how they overcame them. We collectively learned 99 ways to not build a successful rocket.

What has the process been like so far in building a brand-new lab and assembling a team?

It’s been very gratifying! I’m so fortunate to have my team. Each person in my group has unique things that they do exceptionally well, and it’s so enjoyable to see them learn from each other. I certainly learn a lot from them myself! And that’s one thing about my group that I’m so proud of, that everyone has bought in to a team-mentality. It really is a family-environment, and we look forward to seeing each other each day.

What questions/problems are you working on that you are most excited to explore?

We are very excited about understanding how the immune system changes over time. A lot of studies look at responses at a set time, either after infection, vaccination, exposure to an allergen, etc. But we are interested in what happens before and after that set time. Were there things about the immune system that predicted a response? How is that we can be vaccinated against chickenpox as kids and still be immune as adults? How is the time window for allegen desensitization controlled?

What plans do you have for the first few years of your new role as Principal Research Scientist at the Harvard Chan School? 

For the first few years, my first goal is to establish the laboratory as a team player amongst the institute. This includes building up collaborative efforts that are somewhat outside of my comfort zone. I had a coach once tell us me “If you’re the smartest person in the room, go find another room”. I carry that mentality with me. Here at HSPH, I know how innovative and creative my peers are. They can see things through a lens that I might not be able to. Building up trust and relationships across fields allows for synergistic positive movements of the greater field of Public Health.

Can you tell us one thing (e.g hobbies/interests) that your new colleagues may not know already about you? 

I’m an avid baker. Cooking and baking is one of the ways I maintain mental health. It allows me to completely take my mind away from my job and focus on the cooking; if I don’t focus on the cooking, then it’s probably not going to come out too good. Bringing in some baked goods is also something I enjoy doing for my lab and friends/colleagues. I really believe that, at the end of the day, most people just want to know that you care about them.

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