I was born in Torrance, CA (a beach city, one of many Los Angeles suburbs) and went to University of California, San Diego for a B.S. in Human Biology. I come from a large, close family, 80+% of whom live within the LA area; we’re not exactly wanderers. (My decision to come to UVA for med school is breaking the mold.) I loved every second at UCSD, but the defining features of undergrad for me were my two major extracurriculars/jobs:
I have extensive experience working in sports medicine—evaluating injuries, designing rehab plans, and tracking student-athletes from injury to return-to-play. I love this type of primary-care medicine—getting to experience every step of diagnosis and recovery—and I’m proud I was able to establish meaningful, trusting, relationships with my patients. Although I’ve known that I want to be a doctor for as long as I can remember (I’m kind of a med school stereotype that way), this solidified for me what kind of doctor I want to be.
I’ve also taught in a large handful of biology courses—mostly upper-division physiology—at UCSD. I love teaching; I find the give-and-take of talking to students to be a superbly fun and rewarding way to spend your time. Indeed, part of the reason I’m pursuing internal medicine is for its reputation as more of a teaching field within medicine.
In my free time I’m an avid runner—the combination of solitary thinking time, stress relief, and guilt-free eating all appeal to me greatly—and shameless movie nerd. I’m pretty confident I could carry out a full conversation in just movie and TV quotes.