Alyssa and Olivia Ray
Alyssa and Olivia Ray were Hawkeyes before they were even born.
The 22-year-old twins from Moline, Illinois, were conceived via in vitro fertilization at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. The sisters will graduate from the UI in May with matching double majors in chemistry and biochemistry. Alyssa minored in psychology, Olivia in sociology.
Hometown: Moline, Illinois
Areas of study: Chemistry and biochemistry; Olivia is minoring in sociology and Alyssa is minoring in psychology
Graduation: May 2018
Plans after graduation: Alyssa plans to attend medical school at Southern Illinois University in Springfield, Illinois. Olivia will study medicine a the William Beaumont School of Medicine at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
Activities:
- Both worked in the Women’s Health Tissue Repository
- Olivia is involved with Be the Match; adding 700 people to the registry in a single year
- Alyssa was named an Iowa Center for Undergraduate Research Fellow as a junior
But, there’s a twist to their story: Olivia and Alyssa have spent a majority of their college careers working in the same lab at UI Hospitals and Clinics where their parents’ IVF process took place.
“It’s kind of cool to know that, without science, we wouldn’t be on this earth,” Olivia says. “It’s nice to know we can come back to science and medicine and give back.”
Alyssa and Olivia’s parents—Steve and Stephanie Ray—met as graduate students at the UI. Steve studied chemistry and was accepted into the UI College of Medicine in 1978. Stephanie attended the College of Pharmacy in 1977. They graduated from their respective schools in 1982.
The couple married in 1989, settled in Moline, and after having difficulty conceiving children on their own, went through several cycles of in vitro fertilization at UI Hospitals and Clinics. On their fourth try, Olivia and Alyssa were conceived.
Growing up, Alyssa and Olivia didn’t have much of a connection to the UI, outside of going to a football game, their father says.
“They were not steeped in Iowa tradition,” he says.
In fact, Olivia was initially insistent upon not going to UI, she says. She didn’t want to follow in her father’s footsteps. Yet, Alyssa says she remembers a childhood visit to campus and seeing her parents’ pictures from when they were students.
“That was always an inspiration,” Alyssa says. “I remember coming here with them. I remember touring the campus. I just fell in love with it.”
After checking out a few other colleges, Olivia andAlyssa decided to attend the UI after all.
Interested in the medical fields, the then-first-year pair sought out a lab in which they could work. That led them to the Women’s Health Tissue Repository, run by Donna Santillan. The repository seeks to improve women’s health by collecting material from women throughout their pregnancies in an effort to better understand conditions such as preeclampsia.
Olivia and Alyssa started working in the lab in January 2015 and, three months later, their father came to visit. He quickly recognized the space as the same lab he and his wife received IVF nearly two decades earlier.
“It was pretty special and unique,” Steve says. “I’m a sentimental person. It was very special to me.”
Alyssa says when she and her sister interviewed for the lab positions, they learned IVF work previously took place there, and she briefly considered the possibility that it was where they were conceived. Confirming that’s where her life began gave her work a more “personal touch,” Alyssa says.
“It was just like coming full circle. They’re able to help other women with pregnancy issues.”
“It gave me the perspective of seeing the people that this research could help,” she said. “It was more than just seeing a test tube or a piece of plastic or a pipette.”
“It was crazy. To come back to the original spot (where we were conceived) was quite strange,” Olivia says.
Santillan, who supervises the sisters in the lab, says it’s a happy coincidence.
“It was just like coming full circle. They’re able to help other women with pregnancy issues. I thought it was very nice,” Santillan says. “They’re such great people, both of them. They’re very reliable and they’re very smart.”
Lumped together as “the Ray twins” throughout much of their lives, Olivia says the educational opportunities offered by the UI allowed them to forge their own identities. Olivia, for instance, has been heavily involved on campus with Be the Match, the national bone marrow donor registry, and once added 700 people to the registry in a single year. Alyssa was named an Iowa Center for Undergraduate Research Fellow as a junior.
Studying at UI was an essential part of forming an identity separate from her sister, Olivia says. “I don’t think I could have done as well on a smaller campus with fewer opportunities.”
In the fall, their separation will be even more pronounced. Alyssa will attend medical school at Southern Illinois University in Springfield, Illinois. Olivia will study medicine at the William Beaumont School of Medicine at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
Alyssa says she’ll miss the feel of Iowa City and the multitude of opportunities available to her at the UI.
“I never even thought when I came here that I could be involved in research or anything like that,” she says.
Olivia says she’ll miss walking to class, seeing the Old Capitol, and realizing “I’m part of this huge, Big 10 school.”
“It’s a great place,” she says. “I don’t think people realize, when they’re not from Iowa, everything we have to offer.”
Experience the spring 2018 inspirational stories.