They proudly served their adoptive nation – and found a path to medicine along the way

When Jose Chevalier, Isabelle Trinh Phan and Nam Yong Cho enlisted in the U.S. military, they were thinking of their families. Their families were, after all, the strongest support system these three Bruins had after immigrating to the U.S. from various parts of the globe, and joining up meant easing the pressure on their loved ones. But it was a good thing for a variety of reasons.While none of these student veterans could have predicted it, their military experiences would also point them toward academic and career trajectories in medicine, eventually leading two of them to theDavid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and one to theUCLA College as a pre-med student with hopes of attending the medical school in the future.Here are their stories.Courtesy of Jose ChevalierJose ChevalierJose Chevalier: The mission is compassionJose Chevalier likens medical school to drinking from a firehose.“Sometimes it’s overwhelming how much information is bestowed upon us,” said the Navy veteran and student at the Geffen School of Medicine. “One topic alone will have a physiological, pathological, pharmacological, anatomical and histological aspect to it.”If anyone can handle it, it ’s Chevalier. A double Bruin who seeks to integrate his military and engineering background with his passion for medicine, he hopes to help people who need reconstructive surgery, including those undergoing gender transitions.The seed of this aspiration took root during Chevalier ’s younger years in ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news