After 26 years of service, Ryan McGill wanted to continue to expand his medical knowledge and to serve his fellow veterans, so he enrolled at KansasCOM.
Sometimes a turn of events that seems improbable makes perfect sense: A career military officer nearing retirement applies for medical school, is accepted, and finds purpose delivering services to veterans.
Lt. Col. Ryan McGill, a senior physician assistant for the U.S. Army’s Third Armor Corps and a combat veteran of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa, had a decision to make. The military was offering him a sizable bonus for extending his service, but McGill had applied for admission to KansasCOM and did not know if he would be admitted. After 26 years of service, 22 years of marriage, two children, and 11 assignments for the Army, McGill said, “Let me see if I can go to medical school.” When he received the voicemail telling him he had been accepted to KansasCOM—he calls it his “lottery ticket”—McGill notified his superiors, who he says were “absolutely supportive.”
At 45, McGill is the second oldest student in his class at KansasCOM, but when it comes to providing medical care, he is not starting from scratch. Following in the footsteps of his father who was a national guardsman and his hero, McGill enlisted in the military at 18 as a medic and was trained as a physician assistant at the military’s program in San Antonio.
His career provided him with a range of opportunities to perform medical procedures, including chest tubes and cricothyroidotomy. In addition, McGill says, “Most of my supervising physicians were doctors of osteopathy. I’ve had direct mentorship over the years, mostly by DOs. They have shaped me into that philosophy, and if it wasn’t for them, I would not be here today.”
McGill applied to osteopathic medical schools because he thinks of DOs as “blue-collar, work ethic folks.” He says, “I didn’t choose KansasCOM. KansasCOM chose me.”
Yet for all his medical experience, McGill has found it is an adjustment to be back in school with students who are much younger. He says the students who were recently undergraduates are learning the material from the bottom up. “That’s not working for me,” he says. “I have to take what I know and apply that to what they’re teaching.” McGill credits a conversation with his professor, Susan DeRiemer, Ph.D., for advising him to use this method. “Once I started doing that, my grades went up,” he says.
Facing a future as a civilian after spending more than half his life in the military, McGill is focused on school and getting his family settled. For now, they still live in Texas where McGill was last posted. The family’s plan is to reassess next summer when the military will pay for their moving expenses.
A thirst for medical knowledge and just a little bit of luck brought McGill to KansasCOM. His future upon graduation is yet to be determined, but he says, “I would consider myself a future Kansan. I’ve treated so many folks from Kansas in my military career. I’m going to continue to treat folks from Kansas.” One thing McGill knows for sure is that his work as a DO will be for the Veterans Health Administration, where he can give back to the service that has given him so much.
Lt. Col. (ret.) McGill is not the only member of KansasCOM’s student body to serve in the military. Student doctor Carlolyn Gill is a captain in the Air Force Reserve. She was on the team briefing President Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic. Student doctors Peng Feng and Angela Bundy were Army medics who went on to become registered nurses. Student doctor Meet Patel is a Navy reserve hospitalist (medic). OMS-2 Akira Shinomaya was an Army medic and paratrooper. Mason Rohleder was in Army logistics and transportation.