Last November, Dr. Anand Narayanan '12 returned to College Station after being away for over 10 years. He was being honored as one of Texas A&M University’s 12 Under 12, a spotlight acknowledging the contributions of 12 young alumni who have graduated in the last 12 years who exemplify the Aggie core values in their careers and service to their communities.

However, when he arrived in College Station, he barely recognized it. So much had changed since his time in Aggieland that it felt unfamiliar. He navigated across town and through campus to the University Apartments (UA), now commonly referred to as the Gardens Apartments, where he had lived during his graduate studies. Picking his way through the resident buildings, he parked his car in front of the Community Center (UACC). It was still there, just as it had been when he had been a resident and leader in the apartment community. He knew then that he was home.

“I took the turn on University Drive and it was completely unrecognizable,” said Dr. Narayanan upon his return, “Imagine my joy when I saw the UA Community Center! Walking through the corridors, seeing the national flags, UACC presidents’ pictures on the wall and the community kitchen brought back so many fond memories. For a moment, I felt like all my old friends would just walk out of one of the conference rooms.”

Dr. Narayanan came to Texas A&M University from India to pursue a Ph.D. in Dr. Arne Lekven’s laboratory in the Department of Biology with a research focus on Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology. Already an accomplished academic, he selected Texas A&M from multiple graduate school offers for its robust research portfolio and the opportunity to live in a state as unique as Texas. As an international student, he chose to live in the University Apartments, a Department of Residence Life operated complex on the edge of campus consisting of over 1,100 residents from 100+ countries. There he found a vibrant, welcoming community where he forged lifelong friendships and a deep connection with Texas A&M.

This supportive community also provided him with a platform to grow as a leader. In addition to his academic accomplishments, Dr. Narayanan served his community as the President of the University Apartments Community Council. His love and appreciation for the people he served is evident in his articles in the monthly newsletters that were distributed to residents. These newsletters are also a window into the lives of the residents during this time and show the warmth and support they all had for each other. The newsletter details highlights of resident countries of origin, listings of community classes on everything from child rearing to cooking to language lessons, and notices about upcoming community meals and events. They also advertised for the culture week events, organized by Dr. Narayanan, which allowed residents more opportunities to get to know one another and highlighted the culture of their respective home countries.

Later, Dr. Narayanan continued his service by becoming the first Senate Representative for University Apartments to the Texas A&M Student Senate. This position helped him become aware and gain insights into the larger university community.

He stated, “Being a part of the 61^st session of the Student Senate helped me become aware of the challenges and developments at Texas A&M. It is a wonderful way to stay connected with the student population at Texas A&M and to serve the student community.”

It also gave him a platform to further advocate for the University Apartments. As part of the university’s Campus Pointe plan, the University Apartments were slated to be replaced beginning the summer of 2009. The first phase of construction would require approximately 100 residents across 72 units to find alternate housing at the end of their contracts. As most of the residents were on international student visas with limited ability to work outside of their fixed stipends, there was concern that they would not be able to find a similarly affordable option for housing from the non-university communities in the area.

Dr. Narayanan presented this problem to the Student Senate and was able to move forward a resolution that “strongly encourage[ed] Residence Life and the administration of Texas A&M University to provide interim housing for the students displaced by Phase I of the Campus Pointe plan.” The Senate resolution (S.R. 08 (F) 7) titled, “University Apartments Interim Housing Provision Resolution,” also made further recommendations on pricing in an effort to keep costs manageable for the fixed stipends of international students.

His efforts were successful and helped the Department of Residence Life work with the university to provide the temporary housing needed during the construction that would transform the University Apartments into the Gardens Apartments, which continue to serve as a strong community for international students, upperclassmen and students with families.

Michael Krenz, Associate Director of Residence Life, described Dr. Narayanan as a “dynamic and positive change agent, who listened to the residents, and then advocated for their needs.”

Dr. Narayanan continued to serve the Texas A&M community in a variety of leadership roles and received several honors, including the Eppright Outstanding International Student Award in 2010. This is the highest honor for an international student, bestowed to only one of over 4,000 students from more than 100 countries enrolled at the university. The criteria to receive this award includes holding an excellent academic record, involvement in a wide array of university and community activities, and promotion of international awareness on campus and in the community. He was recognized for his work with not only the University Apartments Community Council and the Student Senate, but also for his service through multiple organizations both on and off campus. He also led humanitarian work outside of the university in the cities of Bryan/College Station, such as hosting an off-campus clothing drive for Twin City Mission, which was providing donations to Phoebe's Home, a Shelter for Battered Women and Children in Bryan, TX.

During the Eppright award ceremony, Karen Watson, the then Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academics indicated that Dr. Narayanan was characterized by his nominators as “a team player with a strong work ethic, a positive attitude and friendly interpersonal style who has a desire to make everything he touches better than when he found it.”

Dr. Narayanan was also honored with the J. Malon Southerland Aggie Leadership Award and Buck Weirus Spirit Award for exemplary leadership and impacting student life positively at Texas A&M.

Dr. Narayanan performed all these roles while making key breakthroughs in the research area of developmental genetics. His graduate research identified key gene regulatory networks underlying Wnt signaling, which is involved in birth defects and some cancers, and his work led to two first-author publications in peer-reviewed journals. He also secured first place and was the session winner in Student Research Week (SRW), for outstanding research in the Genetics category. Dr. Narayanan later served as a judge at SRW, the largest student-run research symposium in the nation. He is also the recipient of multiple academic excellence awards from the Association of Former Students.

Dr. Narayanan took that desire to serve with him when he completed his Ph.D. in 2012. He went on to pursue his postdoctoral training at the Cardiovascular Research Center in the Department of Internal Medicine at Yale University. There, he continued to be a leader and mentor. He served as the Secretary of the Yale Chapter of the Sigma Xi scientific honor society and oversaw activities. He also served as the first Director of Business for Career Network for student scientists and post-docs at Yale. In this capacity, he raised funds for a series of events that created interactive platforms for the Yale community to receive mentorship from industry leaders. He was part of the outreach team that hosted high school students from the Common Ground, CT, and led a mentoring forum for the students at Yale. He also mentored trainees at the American Society of Human Genetics Annual meeting in Houston, TX, the largest human genetics and genomics meeting and exposition in the world.

In his research, Dr. Narayanan’s work at Yale focused on applying the cutting-edge gene editing technologies, TALEN and CRISPR/Cas9 for modeling various disease conditions including neurological disorders and cardiomyopathies. After completing his training, he continued as a research faculty utilizing Next Generation Sequencing platforms in personalized medicine. While at Yale, he also served as a Key Opinion Leader in genome editing and personalized medicine, a reviewer in scientific journals, presented his research at global forums, and contributed as an author in 10 peer reviewed articles in top scientific journals.

Today, Dr. Anand Narayanan is a scientist at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. He continues to create breakthroughs in the field of biotherapeutics and beyond. He credits his experience at the University Apartments and Texas A&M for nurturing in him the values of community and diversity of thought and culture, which have guided him throughout his career. His journey is a testament to the transformative power of community and the importance of service in shaping a meaningful life.