Interview Prep

Tell me about yourself

• Born and raised in Utah

• I grew up supporting my parents through their healthcare journey—I became curious as to how each symptom or illness came to be.

• So, I went to WashU for undergrad, double majoring in chemistry and biology. Chemistry to understand the molecular interactions and biology to understand how these interactions came together to be pathways for pathogenesis.

• During undergrad, I continued to explore patient care through volunteering in hospice and at the BRIC, where I provided value-based, empathetic care for vulnerable populations.

• I translated these experiences into research on social determinants of health and developing diagnostic tools.

• As a first generation student, I also learned the value of mentorship, which I applied as a mentor for other first generation students and as a teaching assistant for students taking chemistry for the first time.

• Today, I’ve taken my undergrad experiences to the NIH, where I research treatments for menopause, and as a radiology tech, where I support patients in their health journey.

• At the end of the day, I’ve had the privilege of engaging with my communities to explore gaps that prevent patients from obtaining care. And this is what I hope to address as a medical student and beyond: providing holistic care for every patient through research, compassionate care, and education.

• At UCLA, I hope to expand on my ability to provide quality patient care by engaging with student-led clinics like the SRHC, conducting research with the pathology department to expand diagnostics, and teaching the next generation of physicians and scientists

Why Medicine?

• My journey in medicine began sitting with my dad as he underwent treatment for diabetes and kidney disease. With every appointment, I learned how to translate my father’s pain into English, helping him get the right care.

• Often, when Western medicine failed to alleviate symptoms, we turned to Eastern treatments. Being in this unique cultural and linguistic intersection really reinforced how important value-based care is. I love medicine because it involves balancing what treatments exist and what treatments are effective for each patient.

• In college, my interest in medicine expanded as a result of research and engagement with local policy. Through research on social determinants of health, I learned how these values/lived experiences manifest in changes in the gut microbiome and patient health outcomes. Through this data, I learned how to support local initiatives to reform infrastructure to improve community health.

• I’m interested in medicine—specifically becoming a physician— because the role lies at the intersection of patient care, research, and policy. This flexibility to engage with each of these unique roles allows me to contextualize the life of the patient I care for and how I can contribute to improving their quality of life as well as the health of my community.

Conflict scenario

S- patient upset at how long surgery is. Sat in waiting room for hours after coming from far away. When I spoke to the patient’s wife, she was very upset and began yelling that she was sick of waiting and didn’t understand why it was taking so long to start the surgery. They began to threaten to leave

T- My role was as an operating room tech, preparing the patient for surgery.

A- I began by apologizing that it had taken so long and thanked them for their patience. Explained that weekends were on a case by case basis, so whenever emergency surgeries arise, we have to rearrange the schedule by severity. I informed her that the operating room was all ready to go right now and provided information on how long it was scheduled for and where she could wait.
R- This situation reinforced that the patient’s family members are also our patients. This patient was really upset because they were experiencing something extremely stressful and didn’t feel like they had the information to address their problem. It reminded me that every “difficult patient” has an unmet need, something I will continue to carry as a physician.

failure

• Senior thesis project

• Started with mass spectrometry- didn’t work at all

• I continued to trouble for the next 2 months, seeking support from my PI.

• By the 3rd month, I found that the instrument we had was not capable of measuring the compound I set out to build a method for.

• Pivoted by seeking advice from chemistry instructors. Other methods still failed. The solution came during P-chem lecture, when I discovered excitation emission matrix-which measured my compound. Used community resources.

• Besides learning how to troubleshoot, I also learned how to handle failure, which is an inevitability with research. I learned to pivot from failure, rather than continuing to flip over the "metaphorical rock,” hoping that my hypothesis could be tested. Learned to lean on my community and mentors for support and incorporate different experiences and opinions into my project.

Strengths

• Ability to anticipate the needs of my team

  • OR - anticipated the needs of physicians by learning case by case. I observed what the circulator nurse did and prepared the instruments and rooms as needed. Gave my team lunch breaks and stepped in before being asked.

• Ability to communicate with diverse populations and empathize with their experiences

  • As a translator, I’ve learned how to communicate across language barriers

  • Awareness of nonverbal forms of communication

  • Seeking to understand their experiences

• Flexible

  • As an older sibling among 5, I’ve learned to roll with the punches whenever conflict or emergencies arise. Stay calm during emergencies —something I employed as an EMT whenever faced with trauma calls.

Weaknesses

• language

  • English is not my first language so it takes me a little longer to find the right words to convey my thoughts

  • Improve: I’ve learned to lean into other forms of communication to convey my thoughts. I also have learned to be okay with taking a second to gather my thoughts.

• struggle to ask questions

  • As a FGLI, I wasn’t raised to ask questions as much as I was raised to adapt to expectations.

  • Improve- I’ve learned to prepare well in advance for lectures and set out time for office hours to ask questions and listen to my peers ask questions.

• spend too much time with patients

  • I’m very curious about my patients and like to learn everything about them, which can impede on my other responsibilities

  • I’ve learned to step away from conversations and promise to continue them on later. Mindful of time during conversations, setting a time limit.

What makes you unique

• Passion for history and documentation

• Living history project

Meaningful volunteering

Housing Project- work with local nonprofits to organize volunteer activities for students

• Chess with Dimitrius, learning to play from someone and listening to their life story. Hearing his challenges to obtaining education and supporting his journey back

Hospice-

• Caring for Barbara- learned the importance of being present. Couldn’t communicate but you can show up to support them and their famiilies

BRIC-

• learned to care for patients holistically

• no age is too young to be a victim of violence and sometimes the healthcare system isn’t equipped to care for these patients longitudinally

Food outreach-

• reinforced the importance of community and learned other facets of health. I worked with patients in different forms to support their journey. Learned to work with volunteers and make them feel engaged.

Chem TA-

• learned to communicate lab techniques and concepts to students with different backgrounds and understanding. I learned to assess their understanding and tailor explainations to their needs.

Research Projects

• Mallott Lab- SDOH relationship with the gut microbiome and how it impacts long term health.

  • Environment- how does env. microbiome differ in our survey sites

    • Extracted DNA and PCR. Processed microbiome data

    • Researching history of the sites, I found that they differed based on the level of industry in the area. Lower diversity in industry.

  • Cardiovascular health- how does gut microbiome relate to cardiovascular health?

    • Survey data into heart metrics

    • Inconclusive because survey was so subjective.

• Farnsworth lab- contribute to refining diagnostic tools

  • CMV assay- how does patient demographic and preexisting conditions affect how well the test works?

    • Collected remnant samples and tested it on new instruments and compared it to the golden standard.

    • Found that the novel instrument worked as well as the golden standard in half of the time

  • Microplastics- how do SDOH affect microplastic exposure and how does the concentration in the blood affect cardiovascular outcomes?

    • Wrote the IRB, drafted methods on MS, IR, UV, and EEM

    • Consulted professors and collected samples to test methods

    • Found that EEM work best to quantify. The question is still being researched.

• BIDS- Pressure Injury prediction model

  • How does patient demographics, stay in hospital, meds, diagnosis, etc affect PI? Can we predict it?

  • Used R and SQL to build a model that predicted it.

  • Found correlations between age and diagnosis. Surprised that chronic conditions were negatively correlated.

• Kunkel- Auxin in gene regulation- looked at the gene regulation for auxin promotion in plants. Looked at how they affected defense mechanisms.

  • Gene mutation and GFP expression

  • Found that some of the genes were related to acetyl coA conversion, which causes constant promotion of degense mechanisms.

• NIH- how do new therapies affect menopause biomarkers? Hearing loss, bone density loss.We use mass spec to track the biomarkers in lymph fluid, CSF, plasma, etc in mice that have menopause simulated in them. Then, they take the treatment/placebo and we measure it.

Disagreement

• Uncle’s funeral- dad’s approach vs my approach

• Division of work in a research project

  • S- began my project with a fellow looking into the effects of MP on the body. The fellow was interested in looking in PFAS, I was interested in looking into PET. He didn’t recognize my goal for the project and spoke over me whenever I tried to discuss this with him.

  • T- I arranged a time to discuss this separately. I asked him why he didn’t want to pursue it. He told me it was because he hadn’t ever participated in method development before and didn’t think that he could help me.

  • A- Realizing that this came from a misunderstanding, I reassured him and offered to connect us with faculty in the chemistry department to train us in method development. Additionally, I tried to understand why he wanted to pursue PFAS and helped adapt methods for his project.

  • R- I think that this situation will come up a lot in med school and beyond. I’ve learned how to approach these uncomfortable disagreements through direct communication—seeking to understand the other side and establishing mutual respect for each other. For these projects, I will ensure that this line of communication is established from the beginning and make sure that my collaborators understand that I need feedback.

healthcare challenges

• spiral of ER visits - causes financial and physical strain

  • Doesn’t have a care plan for after they are discharged

  • medical mistrust

• Anxiety about going to doctors

  • Delayed diagnosis

  • Caused by financial, political, or emotional anxiety.

how to break bad news

• private setting-aks patients how they feel and engage them.

• learn what they know and fill in the blank

• Find out howmuch they want to know- the big picture, smalldetails?

• share info, come with details and work up, ask them if they understand

• affirm pt feelings

• follow up and provide clear plans

• acknowledge tears, provide them time and space

Medicaid

• Big beautiful bill - coverge affects preventative care, med, treatment etc.

• changes public spending and reducing improper enrollment vs protecting access for medically vulnerable people

• important to discuss how it can provide continuity of care but also how it can affect insurance coverage overall

healthcare affordability act

immigration policy and healthcare access

• fear of healthcare services, dropping coverage

• theywant to evaluate whether people are eligible for coverage and if people are solely dependent on gov assistance

• affect on healthcare workers

• access to emergency is open to everyone - preventative care isn’t

vaccine policy

• changes to childhood vaccine recommendations

• a lot is now state dependent - outbreak of measles throughout the country

• investigations into vaccine outcomes and adverse injuries/reactions have begun

• Who is responsible for the recommendations?

• What evidence should play into policy?

• How do physicians respond to it

• herd immunity - enough of population immune →transmission reduces

affordability and prescription prices

• people go without care due to costs

• inflation reduction act → negotiate prices for high cost drugs

• Pharmacy benefit manages → influencing what is covered and how pharma is reimburdsed. REQUIRES MORE TRANSPARENCY

abortion

• abortion is regulated by state

• medicaid funding for it is restricted for all reproductive health care

• Criminalization of women’s healthcare practices

• California has continued to invest in reproductive healthcare access

• implications: access to miscarriage management, maternal and fetal health, emergency care, disparities, timely care

AI Integration

AI medical devices - recently undergoing risk assessment, premarket evaluation, and monitoring

pro

• earlier disease detection

• can increase accuracy and reduce burden on physician time

con-

• bias

• privacy concerns

• inaccurate outputs

Universal healthcare vs socialized healthcare

universal healthcare - describes who is covered

• everyone has access to care

• doesn’t mean government owns hospitals or employs people

• Canada, UK

socialized healthcare- describes how healthcare is financed or delivered

• government finances healthcare services

• employment of healthcare providers

• funded by taes, receiving point of care without paying

• reduces barriers to care

• increases wait time for everything

• budget and flexibility issues