You’ve likely watched the “Running Man Challenge” video created by the WVU School of Medicine Class of 2019. About 211,000 people have.

 

The reason behind it, said Bridgeport High School alum Colin Winkie, is to raise awareness for Multiple Sclerosis and funds for research and treatment of the disease.

 

The class decided to join the craze after med student Mark Seraly viewed one of the videos, but it was a professor who inspired the students to put the plan into action.

 

“We were doing a section on neurophysiology with a lot of stuff on neurological disorders,” Winkie said. “In one of our classes, a professor who had been diagnosed with MS when he was 27 came into class and told us his story. It was really inspiring because although he was diagnosed with the disease, he was still able to become a doctor and he still practices today.”

 

Winkie and Shane Jafri, both of the BHS Class of 2011, participated in the video which has already raised more than $4,600. Fellow BHS graduate Alex Wroe is also part of the class, but he wasn’t available to be in the video.

 

Med student Derek Andreini, who also does video production, shot the video and put it together, with editing help from Chris Bell. A lot of thought went into the process.

 

“We all came together and developed it – throwing our ideas together, but Derek was the first collaborator and ran with the whole idea, also directing the production,” Winkie said. “If you look at the other running man videos, they are either one scene of different people dancing or different rooms of people doing stuff. We kind of took it to the next level and made it a multiple-room type deal.”

 

Winkie said the students are often asked how they had the time.

 

“Medical school is hard and everything, but you can’t study 24/7,” he said. “It was only like an hour here and there. It was shot over about a week and a half.”

 

In addition to participation of many med students, the video ends with an appearance by Vice Dean for Education and Academic Affairs/Chair of the Department of Medical Education Norman D. Ferrari, III.

 

“He’s definitely the best part of the video,” Winkie said. “I didn’t even know he was going to be in it until I watched it for the first time.”

 

Winkie and Jafri are in an opening scene together, as well as the ultrasound scene. They are pretty good friends at WVU.

 

“We sit together in class,” Winkie said. “I didn’t even know Shane was coming to school here until I ran into him on the first day.”

 

Winkie said he has had his eye on becoming a physician since he attended BHS. He’s uncertain of his specialty at this time, but he is considering orthopedics. His has an undergraduate degree in biochemistry.

 

The video has been shared 15,000 times on Facebook and has garnered an endorsement by former Mountaineer quarterback and Miami Dolphin Pat White.

 

“Hopefully it will continued being shared and we will raise even more money for the cause,” Winkie said. 

 

See the video below.