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Nathan and Bethany Gray ('05) | Chemistry & Biochemistry

University of Texas Southwestern 
Medical Center in Dallas

The chemistry was there from the first time Bethany Powell and Nathan Gray met - in more ways than one.

The two met at the freshman Welcome Week dinner for chemistry/biochemistry majors their first year at ACU. They also were in the same University 100 group.

I feel like ACU gave me tools needed to adapt academically to a rigorous load. More importantly, ACU helped me build a foundation to cope spiritually and emotionally with an environment and a schedule that can be as crushing to the spirit as it is to the brain and body.

They became friends and by the time they were seniors, the attraction had gone from just chemistry to true love. They graduated in 2005, got engaged in May 2006 and married the following December.

And if not for chemistry, none of it would have happened. The Grays say they have plenty to be thankful for from their ACU days, from their relationship to the success they now enjoy, to what they hope to become in the future.

Both excelled at ACU, he in biochemistry and she in chemistry. After graduating with honors from ACU, both were accepted by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas - Nathan in medical school and Bethany in the graduate school for biomedical sciences.

Getting accepted to medical school

Even though ACU graduates have an excellent acceptance rate at medical schools, Nathan faced a challenge at Southwestern because his home state is Tennessee. Only 10 percent of students at the UT medical school can be from out of state.

"Southwestern was my first choice," Nathan said. "I didn't know what the odds were that I would be accepted."

As it turned out, neither Nathan nor Bethany had anything to worry about, and they credit their ACU education as the main reason. Nathan said a lot of students pay $1,000 or $1,500 for a review course before taking the Medical College Admission Test or MCAT. But he didn't have to.

"The quality of my basic science courses was such that I was able to review for the MCAT using old class notes and textbooks rather than paying for a review course," he said. "I cannot say enough about the caliber of my pre-med professors at ACU."

Although Bethany's beginnings in graduate school meant a change of direction, she adapted easily. Her undergraduate degree at ACU was in chemistry, with relatively little background in biology.

A heavier background in biology was expected from students working toward a doctorate in biochemistry in graduate school. But she quickly learned that her coursework and classroom environment at ACU had prepared her well.

"I felt that ACU had developed my reasoning and logic skills in a way that gave me an advantage in approaching graduate classes," she said.

Also, at ACU she had been able to do lab work with a professor and spend a summer doing research at Texas A&M University, which isn't something that all undergraduates get to put on their resume.

Why ACU?

Bethany and Nathan both praised the small classes and one-on-one relationships they had with faculty members at ACU. Bethany said some of her new classmates are intimidated by the fact that in graduate school their professor, not a teaching assistant, will actually be reading their work. In the large universities they graduated from, teaching assistants, not full professors, did the grading.

"My ACU teachers actually read and critiqued the long lab reports and papers I wrote for classes," Bethany said.

The couple also appreciated other aspects of an ACU education, from the many extra-curricular activities available to being able to take enrichment courses outside their field.

Nathan cited his Bible courses, philosophy classes and his minor in Spanish, which he believes will serve him well as a physician in Texas, with its large Hispanic population.

Also, he has the background to look at the ethical and spiritual aspects of medicine, "from a viewpoint which was challenged and broadened by my professors."

The future is just as bright for Nathan and Bethany as the past and present. Bethany is doing research on targeting chemotherapy to lung cancer using new technology. She loves the opportunity to "see science at work in a way that could change lives" and she looks forward to passing on that excitement, possibly as a college professor.

Nathan graduates in June and will begin a residency in internal medicine in July. He enjoys working in a hospital and teaching younger students. He envisions himself someday as a clinician/educator, splitting time between patient care and educating students.

Both have experience in doing mission internships and have an interest in continuing that work and perhaps teaching abroad in a hospital.

No matter where the future takes them, Nathan and Bethany give ACU and its faculty members credit for providing them with the background they need to succeed, both in their professional and private lives.

"I feel like ACU gave me tools needed to adapt academically to a rigorous load," Nathan said. "More importantly, ACU helped me build a foundation to cope spiritually and emotionally with an environment and a schedule that can be as crushing to the spirit as it is to the brain and body."

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