Rockswold Health Scholars Program: Where Curiosity Meets Healthcare
Every summer, a new group of undergraduates gets a front-row seat to see how healthcare actually works. The Rockswold Health Scholars Program brings students into Hennepin Healthcare and the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) for 10 weeks, giving them a real look at how research, education and patient care come together.
Longtime Hennepin Healthcare neurosurgeon and researcher Gayland Rockswold, MD, PhD, and Mary Garnaas Rockswold started the program at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, to give students hands-on experience working alongside HHRI researchers, Hennepin Healthcare clinicians and other healthcare professionals. The Rockswolds created it to support future healthcare leaders and encourage students to explore careers in medicine and research.
This summer, scholars fanned out across multiple projects throughout the hospital and research institute. Here’s what the experience meant to three of them.
2026 Rockswold Scholars
For Ryan Birnesser, a scholar interested in biostatistics, the program helped him see just how many paths can lead to a career in healthcare. Birnesser worked alongside the biostatisticians team in HHRI’s Chronic Disease Research Group (CDRG).
“The most meaningful lesson I have taken away from my experience has been that someone’s path is not determined and there are many opportunities to get where someone is supposed to be in life,” Birnesser said. “Many people got into biostatistics, and medicine, in different ways, and it has been helpful to hear about the different experiences that have led people to HHRI and HCMC.”
The program also gave him more clarity in his owns plans, including graduate school after he finishes his undergraduate degree.
Abrianna Nissley spent her summer in the Restorative Neurotrauma Lab, working with Samuel Cramer, MD, PhD; David Darrow, MD, MPH; and Elizabeth Bottorff, PhD, on the E-STAND (Epidural Stimulation After Neurologic Damage) trial. The research looks at how epidural stimulation may help restore movement and improve autonomic function for people with spinal cord injuries.
“Most meaningful to me was watching each individual study participant find hope in the small wins that the epidural stimulator provided,” Nissley said. “Whether it was a bit of toe movement or better bladder control, participants were able to grasp onto hope of a little more autonomy over their lives, restoring some quality of life.”
Watching those small wins add up changed how Nissley thinks about the kind of doctor she wants to be.
Cecelia Huttemier’s summer looked a little different. Instead of a lab, she spent it behind a camera, developing a training video for the Interdisciplinary Simulation and Education Center (ISEC) to help healthcare professionals learn debriefing techniques.
“What I found most interesting was the intersection between medicine, education and media,” Huttemier said. “This project expanded my view of what a scholarly project in healthcare can look like and allowed me to unexpectedly develop my technological, communication and leadership skills as a director.”
These three scholars and their three different projects are just a glimpse of the work happening across this year’s program. That range is exactly what Rockswold had in mind when he started the program.
Projects/mentors for summer 2026:
- Hannah Brown, PhD – Cardiac Biomarker Trials Laboratory
- Samuel Cramer, MD, PhD; David Darrow, MD, MPH; and Walt Galicich, MD – Traumatic Brain Injury Research
- Charles Lei, MD – Interdisciplinary Simulation & Education Center
- Kentral Galloway – Next Step
- Jon Snyder, PhD – Chronic Disease Research Group
- Travis Olives, MD, MPH, MEd – Emergency Medicine, Medical Director of the Minnesota Poison Control System
Learn More About the Rockswold Health Scholars Program at St. Olaf