I was ten years old when I found myself on a stretcher at Boston Children's Hospital
with IV lines coming out of my arms, being rolled down a hallway into an operating room
because my supraventricular tachycardia, and that day my doctors cured me, and I walked
out of Boston Children's Hospital knowing that I wanted to become a physician so that
I could repay the physicians who had given me a second chance at life.
I grew up in poverty in a really dangerous area in Chicago.
My mother was a first generation immigrant.
We were coal miners, north-central Illinois.
Coming to Harvard, it was like going to Mars.
Medicine's always been a dream for me ever since I was a little kid.
I knew I wanted to do something where I would work directly with others.
For me, it represented a natural intersection between my love for science and my love for
public service.
We always tell the students that you don't just come here to learn medicine.
You come here to learn how to learn medicine for a lifetime, and we have to make sure that
people from all backgrounds can come and get the benefit of a Harvard education so that
they can go out and really make a difference in the world.
When I got the acceptance letter, I was very excited.
And I remember my father stopped what he was doing, and he started to cry, and he said
to me, "this is why we came to this country."
Coming to Harvard opens doors.
And then getting the financial aid letters, like the key door that opens the lock, and
actually lets you come inside.
Financial aid played a huge role.
When I received my financial aid package, I couldn't stop smiling.
I was absolutely ecstatic.
So there was this moment when I realized that the numbers would add up.
An investment in Harvard's financial aid program means that you're giving students, particularly
those who come from low income or working class backgrounds, the opportunity to train
at one of the world's best medical institutions.
I think when a donor supports student scholarships, they have more of a ripple effect than almost
anything else they can do.
People think, "well, Harvard has such a big endowment surely we don't need more money."
Most of that endowment is highly restricted and only a small percentage is for student
financial aid."
If you are here, there is an expectation that you will do something great, and if I can
build a medical school that will educate students the way I was educated then I am giving back
to Harvard by doing that.
I see myself playing the roles of a surgeon, a researcher, and a leader in health care.
The biggest thing that I can do for anyone on this planet is show them that they have
someone here to support them, and if I can do that to one person, my life is a success.
It means that you not only change the life of that student, but it also means that you
get to change the lives of all of the patients that student goes on to serve as a physician
and a healer for.
I think knowing that support for financial aid comes from donors encourages us as current
students to pay it forward in the future.
I work with children who might not have role models, and they look like me and have similar
backgrounds to what I have, and when I can tell them that, "yes, your dream of becoming
a doctor is possible, and you can go to Harvard Medical School," there's nothing that can
beat that.
We really rely on the generosity of our alumni and other donors to ensure that we can continue
to recruit the very best students here and make sure they can come when they're given
the chance, and I wanna give them that chance so they can fulfill their dreams.