Where Are They Now? Guy Helman
9/3/2020 12:00:00 PM | Water Polo, My GW: Celebrating our Stories
Men's water polo alumnus has followed medical dreams around the globe
Guy Helman's journey to become a doctor has made for quite the adventure.
Since graduating from GW in 2013, the men's water polo alumnus has lived in the nation's capital, two Australian cities and now New Orleans while building an impressive resume of medical experiences. Along the way, he's developed a vast collection of frequent flyer miles and impeccable packing skills.
"There's going to be challenges anywhere you go," Helman said. "It's certainly not easy to pick up and move everything, but I've gotten pretty good at it now, I think."
Helman chose this globe-trotting path as part of an exclusive MD/PhD program through Australia's University of Queensland. The New Jersey native returned to the U.S. last January after four years studying abroad to complete the final leg of his clinical training at Ochsner Medical Center in Louisiana.
He's currently finishing up his doctoral thesis with an eye on a career in pediatric medicine after graduating medical school in November 2021. His PhD research, focused on rare genetic neurological disorders, expands on work that he started as an undergraduate in Foggy Bottom working at nearby Children's National Medical Center.
"To have had everything that started at GW continue into the career I have today and the career that I will hopefully have for the next 30-plus years after I graduate, I'm just very thankful," said Helman, who earned a Biology degree through the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences. "I really couldn't be happier that I made that decision to come there in the first place to get started working toward all this."
Helman distinguished himself in and out of the pool over four seasons representing the Buff and Blue. The center defender's 55 field blocks still rank third in program history, while he was a three-time ACWPC All-Academic honors for his work in the classroom.
As a senior, Helman took that balance to a new level as a student researcher at Children's National. The job, landed through a listserv posting through the Department of Biological Sciences, set the foundation for his interest in studying neurological disorders in children through new genomic sequencing methods.
Helman landed a full-time gig at the world-renowned hospital after graduation to continue the research, primarily focusing on leukodystrophies, a family of rare genetic diseases that affect myelin in the central nervous nervous system and are caused by a growing number of genetic abnormalities that lead to significant developmental issues.
Early in his time at Children's National, Helman met a family who had gone 27 years without a firm diagnosis for their son's developmental disorder. It was a breakthrough moment realizing how the research could make a real difference.
"That was really powerful to me," Helman said. "There's a lot of different mysteries in medicine, but I wanted to try to start understanding, 'What are the different ways that we can investigate these disorders and help these families find answers?'"
Fresh out of GW, Helman dove into that mission at Children's National, relishing the chance to learn under his mentor Dr. Adeline Vanderver. He was proud to help another Colonial, women's soccer alumna Nicole Ulrick, get her start in the field, too.
When not in the lab, Helman coached water polo locally and supported his former teammates at Smith Center Pool every chance he got.
It was an excellent situation, uniting his two passions in a city that felt like home. However, the opportunity to go to Australia to continue his studies eventually proved too good to pass up.
"I decided that I really needed to go," said Helman, who made the move Down Under in January 2016. "It was a big change because I was very connected to the water polo scene and the medical research within my field in D.C., but I was ready to start medical school and try to take the next step."
Over four years in Australia, Helman split his time between Brisbane and Melbourne. He studied at University of Queensland's main campus for two years before moving to conduct his PhD research at Murdoch Children's Research Institute and work on his thesis, which is titled "An exploration of unsolved central nervous system white matter disorders with next-generation sequencing."
While abroad, Helman still found ways to be a part of the spirited GW men's water polo alumni family.
He followed along online and did his best to schedule visits home to allow him to catch the Buff and Blue in action. Former teammates Cameron Illes and Nolan Lozinski even made the trip to see him.
It was particularly special to be part of the joyful crowd at Navy's Lejeune Hall for the program's first conference title in 2017 with Andrew Mavis, a longtime family friend whom he'd coached on the club level in New Jersey, leading the way in the historic victory.
"The change, especially under Barry King's leadership, has been phenomenal," Helman said. "All of those guys are really, really great people, and they put the team first and foremost through everything that they do."
At the beginning of 2020, Helman was on the move again to start his hands-on clinical training in New Orleans.
Understandably, the spring included some unexpected hurdles amid the COVID-19 global pandemic. Because of his extensive lab experience, he was asked to help set up the hospital's testing lab before helping process thousands of tests during the first weeks of the pandemic.
"Our entire student body really pitched in," Helman said. "This being an entirely new community to me, it was great to find one way where I could take some of the skills that I had to be able to do my small part in the larger community response."
Lately, Helman's schedule has returned closer to normal. After completing his internal medicine, surgery and pediatric rotations, he's currently on his OB-GYN clerkship with more to come. He plans to seek residency in the U.S. once he's finished next fall, hopefully in a role that complements his background.
Through improvements in technology and the rise of increasingly sophisticated sequencing techniques, the field of leukodystrophy research continues to change before Helman's eyes. He's excited to be part of the future, using his experiences to help families get more answers.
"I think my research has given me some insight into where medicine is headed," Helman said. "I hope that as these technologies start being increasingly used, I'm able to benefit from the fact that I have had this research experience to better explain it to families and to keep furthering the work that not only my group is doing but also other groups, as well."
Looking forward, Helman is also enthusiastic about helping the next generation of Colonials chasing similar dreams.
He recently joined the GW Athletics Mentoring program where he's been paired with junior diver and aspiring doctor Carolina Stocchi. He sees an opportunity to pay forward his experience by sharing what he's learned on his own rewarding odyssey.
"I think it's really important to give all of these student-athletes on-going support when they're giving up so much of their time to compete and represent their respective programs," Helman said. "Whether it's making something like finding an internship a little bit easier or helping them find the right path to apply to medical school, I think finding all of the different avenues that we can to keep supporting the student-athletes who are working non-stop really should be a fundamental responsibility of ours as student-athlete alumni."
Since graduating from GW in 2013, the men's water polo alumnus has lived in the nation's capital, two Australian cities and now New Orleans while building an impressive resume of medical experiences. Along the way, he's developed a vast collection of frequent flyer miles and impeccable packing skills.
"There's going to be challenges anywhere you go," Helman said. "It's certainly not easy to pick up and move everything, but I've gotten pretty good at it now, I think."
Helman chose this globe-trotting path as part of an exclusive MD/PhD program through Australia's University of Queensland. The New Jersey native returned to the U.S. last January after four years studying abroad to complete the final leg of his clinical training at Ochsner Medical Center in Louisiana.
He's currently finishing up his doctoral thesis with an eye on a career in pediatric medicine after graduating medical school in November 2021. His PhD research, focused on rare genetic neurological disorders, expands on work that he started as an undergraduate in Foggy Bottom working at nearby Children's National Medical Center.
"To have had everything that started at GW continue into the career I have today and the career that I will hopefully have for the next 30-plus years after I graduate, I'm just very thankful," said Helman, who earned a Biology degree through the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences. "I really couldn't be happier that I made that decision to come there in the first place to get started working toward all this."
Helman distinguished himself in and out of the pool over four seasons representing the Buff and Blue. The center defender's 55 field blocks still rank third in program history, while he was a three-time ACWPC All-Academic honors for his work in the classroom.
As a senior, Helman took that balance to a new level as a student researcher at Children's National. The job, landed through a listserv posting through the Department of Biological Sciences, set the foundation for his interest in studying neurological disorders in children through new genomic sequencing methods.
Helman landed a full-time gig at the world-renowned hospital after graduation to continue the research, primarily focusing on leukodystrophies, a family of rare genetic diseases that affect myelin in the central nervous nervous system and are caused by a growing number of genetic abnormalities that lead to significant developmental issues.
Early in his time at Children's National, Helman met a family who had gone 27 years without a firm diagnosis for their son's developmental disorder. It was a breakthrough moment realizing how the research could make a real difference.
"That was really powerful to me," Helman said. "There's a lot of different mysteries in medicine, but I wanted to try to start understanding, 'What are the different ways that we can investigate these disorders and help these families find answers?'"
Fresh out of GW, Helman dove into that mission at Children's National, relishing the chance to learn under his mentor Dr. Adeline Vanderver. He was proud to help another Colonial, women's soccer alumna Nicole Ulrick, get her start in the field, too.
When not in the lab, Helman coached water polo locally and supported his former teammates at Smith Center Pool every chance he got.
It was an excellent situation, uniting his two passions in a city that felt like home. However, the opportunity to go to Australia to continue his studies eventually proved too good to pass up.
"I decided that I really needed to go," said Helman, who made the move Down Under in January 2016. "It was a big change because I was very connected to the water polo scene and the medical research within my field in D.C., but I was ready to start medical school and try to take the next step."
Over four years in Australia, Helman split his time between Brisbane and Melbourne. He studied at University of Queensland's main campus for two years before moving to conduct his PhD research at Murdoch Children's Research Institute and work on his thesis, which is titled "An exploration of unsolved central nervous system white matter disorders with next-generation sequencing."
While abroad, Helman still found ways to be a part of the spirited GW men's water polo alumni family.
He followed along online and did his best to schedule visits home to allow him to catch the Buff and Blue in action. Former teammates Cameron Illes and Nolan Lozinski even made the trip to see him.
It was particularly special to be part of the joyful crowd at Navy's Lejeune Hall for the program's first conference title in 2017 with Andrew Mavis, a longtime family friend whom he'd coached on the club level in New Jersey, leading the way in the historic victory.
"The change, especially under Barry King's leadership, has been phenomenal," Helman said. "All of those guys are really, really great people, and they put the team first and foremost through everything that they do."
At the beginning of 2020, Helman was on the move again to start his hands-on clinical training in New Orleans.
Understandably, the spring included some unexpected hurdles amid the COVID-19 global pandemic. Because of his extensive lab experience, he was asked to help set up the hospital's testing lab before helping process thousands of tests during the first weeks of the pandemic.
"Our entire student body really pitched in," Helman said. "This being an entirely new community to me, it was great to find one way where I could take some of the skills that I had to be able to do my small part in the larger community response."
Lately, Helman's schedule has returned closer to normal. After completing his internal medicine, surgery and pediatric rotations, he's currently on his OB-GYN clerkship with more to come. He plans to seek residency in the U.S. once he's finished next fall, hopefully in a role that complements his background.
Through improvements in technology and the rise of increasingly sophisticated sequencing techniques, the field of leukodystrophy research continues to change before Helman's eyes. He's excited to be part of the future, using his experiences to help families get more answers.
"I think my research has given me some insight into where medicine is headed," Helman said. "I hope that as these technologies start being increasingly used, I'm able to benefit from the fact that I have had this research experience to better explain it to families and to keep furthering the work that not only my group is doing but also other groups, as well."
Looking forward, Helman is also enthusiastic about helping the next generation of Colonials chasing similar dreams.
He recently joined the GW Athletics Mentoring program where he's been paired with junior diver and aspiring doctor Carolina Stocchi. He sees an opportunity to pay forward his experience by sharing what he's learned on his own rewarding odyssey.
"I think it's really important to give all of these student-athletes on-going support when they're giving up so much of their time to compete and represent their respective programs," Helman said. "Whether it's making something like finding an internship a little bit easier or helping them find the right path to apply to medical school, I think finding all of the different avenues that we can to keep supporting the student-athletes who are working non-stop really should be a fundamental responsibility of ours as student-athlete alumni."
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