"I grew up in Bangkok, Thailand, then moved to New York City where I attended the United Nations International School where I thrived in a multi-cultural environment. During my college years, I immersed myself in Japanese studies to better understand my cultural heritage and majored in East Asian Studies at Harvard. With the ultimate dream of working in international health, I pursued a Master’s in Public Health in Population Planning and International Health from the University of Michigan.
My public health training inspired me to pursue a medical degree so I continued to move West and attended medical school at Stanford University, where I discovered a profound love of patient care. I completed my residency in Internal Medicine at Stanford and joined the Menlo Medical Clinic as a practicing internist. I then spent several years working in Business Development for health care for Sentius Corporation to explore the world of business in Silicon Valley. However, my passion for international health work had not quite faded and in 2002, I was awarded an American Association for the Advancement of Science Award (AAAS) Diplomacy Fellowship and moved to Washington, D.C. to work at the U.S. State Department in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. While there, I received a Meritorious Honor Award for my coordination and oversight of refugee health programs. But while working in the field of international public health was highly rewarding and had been a lifelong goal, I soon realized that I had a deep passion and aptitude for clinical medicine and decided to focus on direct patient care instead."
