Guided by a belief that altruism is “the crux” of medicine, OUWB graduate and future neurologist Ryan Victor-Joseph, M.D. has received the 2026 OUWB Leonard Tow Humanism Award.
The award recognizes graduating medical students and faculty members who are exemplars of humanism in the care of patients. (Bassel Salman, M.D., assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics, and PRISM mentor, was the faculty recipient.)
Victor-Joseph said the recognition made him feel “really grateful.”
“All of these people in my class I look up to, and for me to be chosen out of this pool of great, amazing medical students …I was super stunned and really grateful,” he said.
Any M4 from the current class is eligible of the Tow award.
Students are nominated by peers and finalists are required to create a personal statement describing how they believe they have embodied humanism in medicine. The recipient is selected by a review committee consisting of OUWB Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS) alumni. Recipients receive a certificate, $500, and become inducted as lifelong members of GHHS.
Victor-Joseph was announced as recipient of the 2026 Tow award at the 12th Annual Faircloth Evening of Medical Humanism, and again at the 2026 OUWB Honors Convocation.
During the Faircloth event, Vincent Le, M.D., presented Victor-Joseph as the student recipient. Le described him as a “kind, selfless, and hardworking individual who has dedicated a large part of his OUWB medical school career towards serving those in his surrounding community.”
“Knowing him personally, I see him as a truly good person, someone you turn to when things are tough, and someone that I know would help me pull up a mountain,” he said.
‘The responsibility I wanted’
Victor-Joseph was born in India and shortly after birth, his family relocated to Crownpoint, N.M., which is part of the Navajo Nation. Around the age of 7, his family moved to West Bloomfield, Michigan.
Victor-Joseph graduated from West Bloomfield High School and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in Biology, Health, and Society from University of Michigan.
As a sophomore at U of M, he had an experience that would change the course of his life. It was when Victor-Joseph’s mother had surgery and asked the surgeon if her son could spend some time shadowing him.
“Just seeing the types of relationships (the surgeon) was able to have with his patients … and the sheer responsibility that he had,” said Victor-Joseph. “That was the responsibility I wanted to have and felt like I was capable of taking on.”
He decided to attend OUWB because he wanted to stay close to home, especially when he realized how much support he’d need. Plus, he said the school gave him a strong “home vibe” and that he felt energized during events like Second Look.
Those feelings continued, he said, when he started attending OUWB and he was part of events that fostered bonding, like an ice cream social that was held as part of orientation.
That immediate sense of tight-knit community he felt only grew stronger throughout his time at OUWB. He even made it a goal to know the first name and undergraduate school of every single one of his classmates.
It wasn’t too hard given the time spent with others, whether it was in the OUWB Anatomy Lab, studying for Step One, or serving as one of the co-leaders of Street Medicine Oakland.
He called his time at OUWB a “perfect experience” and said it’s the time spent with friends that he will miss the most.
“My closest friends and I always looked forward to debriefing after exams,” he said. “We could finally breathe; nobody was worried about what they have to do tomorrow…people were just letting loose.”
“That’s what I’ll miss the most,” he added.
In March, Victor-Joseph matched in neurology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
And while he’s looking forward to the next phase of his career in medicine, Victor-Joseph said he constantly keeps in mind not only what drew him to the field but also helped him earn the Tow award.
“Humanism is what brought me to medicine, and it’s also the crux of what a patient wants when they come into a physician’s office,” he said. “It allows people to be vulnerable and feel comfortable enough to share what brought them in.”
“It makes me feel great when I talk to patients and I know they trust me,” he added.
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