Man on a mission

During his last three years as an undergraduate, Cody Aros spent a lot of time asking strangers deeply personal questions.As a volunteer intake coordinator at a free clinic in Menlo Park, California, Aros ’ duties included asking the people seeking care about their interest in HIV testing. For a lot of people, asking strangers about their sexual histories would be a nightmare. But not Aros. With every interaction, he tried to create a safe space, in which people could share their histories and conc erns without fearing judgment.“There is an element of vulnerability in medicine that I found myself really drawn to,” Aros, now 28, said. “I was so struck by the people who were able to be open about something that is otherwise kept so private.”Aros cherished the opportunities he had to ease others ’ burdens of secrecy, because he knew firsthand how heavy they could be.Growing up in Fullerton, California, as the son of a waitress and a construction worker, Aros knew he loved science. He knew he wanted to help people. And he knew he was gay. Unfortunately, through these formative years, he repeatedly received the message that his sexuality — at that point a closely guarded secret — would prove a hazard to his dreams of becoming a doctor and a scientist.Now, as a seventh-year graduate student pursuing his M.D.-Ph.D. degree through theUCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program, Aros is living proof that those messages were wrong. Aros, who came out after graduatin...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news