History

During my medical school education journey, I have witnessed many of my peers and myself experience struggles, disappointments, failures, and uncertainties at different periods. Although the journey has many adversities, I overcame them by not giving up and acquiring the support and courage to rechallenge them until the goals are reached.

🌻 "My heartfelt appreciation goes to Dr. Lucy Clunes, Ph.D., Dean of Students, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, for Dr. Clunes' guidance and support throughout my basic sciences and clinical clerkship years. It was my honor to be your student."

🌻 "I sincerely thank Ms. Ashley Ballesteros, admission advisor, who believed in me and assisted with my admission to SGU."

🌻 "My gratitude to Dr. Kathleen(Kay) Bubb, MD., and many instructors who supported me during basic sciences and gave me great advice." 

🌻 "My warmest thanks to Ms. Monica Colonna, Manager, Recruitment Events, Admission, who helped me survive the peak of COVID-19 when another school official was reluctant to help me. Ms. Colonna, you are a lifesaver. I am forever indebted to you."

Knowing how challenging medical education and this journey could be, my passion for education gravitates toward improving it, so I made it my mission to enhance the quality of medical education for my peers and future medical students who follow in my footsteps.

After some deep thinking, the best idea to do this was to take up the responsibility and set myself as an example to mentor and share my experience with medical students. Therefore, I documented and shared my clinical experiences with medical students immediately after completing each clinical clerkship.

I am happy to have witnessed the shared experiences that have assisted many medical students in being successful during their clinical years; they are the successors of my success, and their success would endorse future medical students to become successful. Knowing this motivates me to dedicate myself and contribute to improving the quality of medical education and the community even more.

In 2021 and 2022, Pari, Paule, and I recruited many clinical medical students who completed the clinical core rotations to advise the medical students who just started their clinical years. We believe providing and sharing the valuable clinical experiences many of us have gained from being at the forefront was essential. We did this through multiple Zoom sessions since large gatherings were prohibited due to COVID-19 restrictions. (It was an interesting time.) 

In 2022 and 2023, I realized the value and the potential medical students gain from our leadership and experiences. So, I founded the Student Alliance in London and co-founded the IMSM program with Pari to promote our founding principles and vision to benefit the medical community. I am grateful to have the support of Dr. Menon, Dr. Millar, Dr. Ghassan, Dr. Potter, Dr. Iqbal, Dr. Sajid, and many other medical consultants, former IMSM members and medical students who support our program. 

🌻 "I am grateful to Ms. Carole Sammy, Mr. Abdul Abdullahi, and Mr. Nojitha Pathirana who often go above and beyond to help the medical community at NMUH."

🌻 "My deep gratitude to Ms. Alison Allen for her and the UK Clinical Team's support and guidance during my clinical clerkship in London,"

2023, 2024, and beyond, I have laid the foundation for a sustainable support system and supportive culture for the IMSM program at North Middlesex University Hosptial, London, U.K. Our supportive culture provides positive feedback and reinforcement, which refills our members' enthusiasm and motivation to continue their dedication to improve medical education and the medical community.

Our IMSM program aims to bring the best out of our members' characters and engage with the medical community through volunteer work, medical student mentorship, facilitating teachings, and setting examples for medical students by being discerning.  

The IMSM leadership team, my partners, Sabrina, Zoe, Jessie, and Pari, provide excellent leadership and altruistic support; my partners create real human connections within the medical community and extend them to the rest of the world. Our leadership team values real human connection and does not rely solely on a computer or a phone to maintain and tend to the human connections we have already formed.  

🌻 Sabrina, Zoe, Jessie, Pari, and I all share a goal to create something good, pass it on to future medical students, and provide them the opportunity to improve the community where they see fit for their generation in medicine.

🌻 "To the internal medicine doctors, Dr. Millar, Dr. Menon, Dr. Iqbal, and Dr. Yok-Sin from Pediatrics, Dr. Govind, Dr. Karthikeyan, Dr. Yoong from OBGYN, Dr. Sanjay Sinha, Dr. Pratheepan, Dr. Ricardo, Dr. Nisha, Dr. Samy from Surgery, Dr. Lorzen from Psychiatry, and Dr. Ghassan, Dr. Hui Mei Wong from Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine, the experience and the lessons I acquired from working with you all will continue to be developed and polished, and become my mission to pass them onto future medical students."

My father, Dr. Wei, is a quadruple board-certified surgeon and medicine specialist. My father once told me "我們現在開始工作" (We begin our work now) when we visited rural areas to work during many summer months in Taiwan. I was a young boy at the time, and I witnessed my father provide care and alleviate suffering where medical care and community support were scarce. I saw my father's dedication to patient care and the professionalism my father showed to the medical teams. 

I had the opportunity to speak to many patients while they were waiting to be seen by my father. I tried to make them feel as comfortable as possible by talking to them about their families, recovery plans, and their daily life routines. Although I was unable to alleviate their ailments, I was able to help them feel more at ease by simply connecting with them. During those many summer months following my father's work, I learned the value of connecting and showing compassion toward patients. 

Years later, I volunteered in Kings County Hosptial, SICU, D3 North, Brooklyn, New York City, USA. I used this opportunity to further my understanding of medicine, patient care, and medical team leadership.

While attending Brooklyn College, City University of New York, USA, I started the Brooklyn College Physics Club to practice leadership, teaching, and the responsibility of taking care of my peers and working professionally with school departments' administrators and professors. I developed a passion for education and received encouragement from Dr. Gail Horowitz, Ph.D. in Education, Organic Chemist, to pursue medicine and education professionally.

I learned to be an educator professionally by studying and earning a Master of Arts in Teaching Science Education at Brooklyn College, CUNY, New York City, USA. Next, I followed my passion to study medicine and attended St. George's University School of Medicine, True Blue, Grenada. I completed the clinical clerkships training at North Middlesex University Hospital, London, United Kingdom, where I practiced medicine professionally under the supervision of my supervisors in hospitals, clinics, and community centers. 

After graduating from medical school, I carry those cherished memories, extend the work my father started, dedicate myself to our medical community, improve medical education, and expand humanistic patient care practices.

🌻 To my father: Our work continues, Dr. Wei.