Podcast

Chapters and Timestamps

00:00 Introduction to White Coats & Rice: An APAMSA Podcast
00:38 Introduction to Victoria Shi
03:39 How and why did you get involved with APAMSA?
05:21 APAMSA accomplishments and highlights
07:06 Impact of mentorship in medicine
08:32 APAMSA role models
10:09 Upcoming events and APAMSA’s National Conference
12:05 Leadership in APAMSA
13:27 Creating initiatives and collaboration in APAMSA National Board
15:24 Advice for attending medical conferences alone
17:30 Choosing Dermatology as a speciality & residency applications
19:49 Dermatology research fellowship
21:11 Dermatology research conferences
21:53 Subspecialties within Dermatology
23:28 Skincare & other misconceptions in Dermatology
25:14 What are you looking forward to in your medical career?
26:22 Relocating for residency and beyond
27:02 Philadelphia & city life
31:23 Rapid fire getting-to-know-you questions
34:08 Advice for pre-medical and medical students

00:00 Introduction to White Coats & Rice: An APAMSA Podcast

James: Welcome everyone to the first episode of the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association Podcast. As a brief introduction to this pod, we have so many things in store for you for future episodes. From roundtable discussions of current health topics, to recaps of our panels with distinguished leaders in the healthcare field, to even meeting current student leaders within the organization. This is White Coats and Rice. My name is James Chua, second year medical student at Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine and the current Fundraising Director at APAMSA. I’ll be your host today and one of the rotating hosts throughout the podcast’s various episode styles.

00:38 Introduction to Victoria Shi

James: On today’s episode, we have with us Victoria Shi, a fourth year medical student at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine. Victoria is an R&B music lover, coffee enthusiast, and most recently a passionate home cook who specializes in one pot budget friendly meals. Victoria has been on a remarkable journey in medicine. Most recently, she’s been immersed in a year long dermatology research fellowship at Northwestern, expanding her expertise and making strides in a field that she’s passionate about. In 2018, to better connect more deeply with her AANHPI roots, she joined the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association. Over the last six years, Victoria has become a dedicated leader within the org, serving in multiple roles such as a local chapter president, Region 6 director, alumni co-director, strategy vice president, and now as APAMSA’s national president. In her role, Victoria is committed to building connections between APAMSA’s local chapters, amplifying the voices of underrepresented AANHPI communities, and championing health literacy, and research initiatives. Through her work, she’s found a strong sense of community and joy in uplifting and supporting others. Outside of her studies and advocacy, you’ll likely find Victoria traveling, exploring nature, diving into the food scene in new cities, or enjoying her hobby of cooking and baking. Join us as we dive deeper into her journey, passions, and goals for the future. That was taken out of your bio, if that sounds familiar.

Victoria: Thanks, James, for that introduction. I was like, you’ve done your research. That’s my APAMSA CV right there. I’m honored to be here for the first episode of our APAMSA podcast. Yeah, just happy to be here.

James: Yeah, we’re happy to have you and we cannot thank you enough for being our first guest. I think we have a bunch of questions so our listeners can get to know you better. But I think the most important question of all is, how are we doing today?

Victoria: We’re doing wonderful. We got off an EM shift and yeah.

James: That’s awesome. I haven’t started the battle of rotations and stuff so I can only imagine how tired you must be, but we are very grateful for you to take the time out of your day to be our first guest.

Victoria: I’m happy to be here. I think you’ll enjoy it. I think rotations are just very rewarding. I mean, even if you come home at the end of the day tired, you’re like today I was like immersed in patient care, and just in the thick of it. So I really enjoy the tired when I come back from rotations.

03:39 How and why did you get involved with APAMSA?

James: That’s awesome and really inspiring and I can’t wait to dive more into that. But some of these questions we have, but I think since this whole organization is focused on like, AANHPI healthcare and stuff. I’m just really interested. So six years in APAMSA, right? Why did you join the organization in the first place?

Victoria: Yeah, one of my factors when first getting started with APAMSA is I was really searching for an Asian community when I started my undergrad and into med school. I grew up in Pennsylvania in like Southeastern Pennsylvania. It wasn’t very diverse at all. I was one of the very few Asian Americans in my grade. So when I came to undergrad, and so I did a joint undergrad and med school program. So when I came to UMKC, I saw that we have an organization of APAMSA that celebrates diversity, and people are really, really like, they’re proud of their heritage. And that’s why I initially joined. But after being involved in it for the past six years, I feel like I’ve really found my, like a second family here. I found a community, and that’s what kept bringing me back. We, with the local chapter members, with the national APAMSA family – it just felt like a second home. I also loved our mission too, like on a local scale, whether that’s, it’s just giving back to the AANHPI community. So whether that’s helping with health fairs on a local level, or doing screening events, and then on a national scale, really bringing together the diverse communities, celebrating all the diverse voices, and also just advocating for AANHPI health on a broader scale. 

05:21 APAMSA accomplishments and highlights

James: That’s amazing. I mean, with six years of experience, like, what would you say is the most standout thing to you, like that you have done so far? Like when you look back during your time, or maybe even like during residency interviews, like this is the one thing you are definitely going to share with everyone.

Victoria: I think I would say the mentorship programs that we’ve started and carried through. I think one thing, like even amongst all our goals of advocating for health equity, and advancing the health Asian and AANHPI communities, I think what stands out to me is that mentorship runs deep, whether it’s from the alumni to the medical students, the medical students to the pre med students. We’ve, for example, established our big sibling, little sibling program, where we have our national board members mentor pre meds. We also have our like ERAS and residency application programs to help our medical students transition into residency. So amongst all of this, I think what I’m most proud of is that we’re really extending our hand out to the future leaders, the future medical students, the future health professions. And we’re really lifting them up and making them into better, better carers, better providers in the future. And I think that will in and of itself help make for a better patient population.

07:06 Impact of mentorship in medicine

James: Absolutely. It’s definitely that like pay it forward mentality. You know, it’s like, what can I do right now to give back to the future? And I remember like, even in my own experiences, like, I never really got it at first. Why my mentors were always so like, eager to help me, you know, but then they really painted it, you know, they’re like one day if like what I’m doing for you right now helps you make like huge waves in the healthcare community, like whatever position you end up as like, that would be worth it.

Victoria: I agree, I don’t think I would not be like where I am today without all the help of my mentors, and there’s many of them. I when people say it really takes a village now sitting on the other side as a fourth year medical student, you know, applying to residency about to, I mean, about to graduate in a matter of months, I am really thinking back and reflecting on how many people have helped me along the way. There’s been physician mentors, I’ve had there’s been other medical students, other peers, even those in the grades before me, who’ve helped me in all different aspects, whether it was school, whether it was getting involved in leadership organizations, whether it was like getting involved in advocacy, just, you know, guiding me through rotations. So when I look back, there’s definitely a village supporting me and I think that’s what makes me want to pay it forward and help others as well.

08:32 APAMSA role models

James: Would you say there’s somebody like either like a board member from APAMSA or maybe like one of the alumni, like one person you could give a special shout out and talk about your experience with them and how they’ve impacted you?

Victoria: Honestly, there’s been many. I’ve been inspired by all the past presidents, you know, Joyce, Donna, Yingfei, these were all the presidents at some point while I was on board. And I think really seeing their leadership, seeing how much they care about APAMSA and their dedication really inspired me to go forward. But honestly, every national board member that I’ve worked with has inspired me too. Just seeing them like work so hard on their own initiatives, come up with new ideas, make new advances has been inspiring as well.

James: Absolutely.

Victoria: There’s too many. I would spend way too long if I was listing all the people that inspired me.

James: Definitely. I will say, you know, as a director myself, you have definitely inspired my work.

Victoria: Thank you so much. You’re literally doing so much for like we’re just excited by all the new initiatives you have like all the streaming tournaments you’ve had like adding all our merch up, like you’ve done so much as fundraising director and we’re all very proud of you.

10:09 Upcoming events and APAMSA’s National Conference

James: Thank you. Yeah, there’s a lot more in store. Our tenure is like four months left or so for elections. And on that note, is there any like inside scoop you could give our listeners to what we could expect within the next four months? Within the last four months of your presidency? Any new cool things happening in the horizon?

Victoria: I think everyone can expect in the next couple months, we are having our national conference, the first weekend of March in 2025. This will be at Duke. Super excited. The national conference directors have been working hard on this. We have all our speakers lined up and just be on the lookout for the speaker lineup to be posted.

James: Definitely. Yeah, this would be actually my first national conference. I had tickets or I had a ticket to the UNLV conference last year, but I was a little too… I was um, I was a little too shy to go because this would be my first medical conference and I was under the impression that no one from my APAMSA or no one from my medical school would be going. Okay. And so I just didn’t go because I was too shy and like too nervous. Right.

Victoria: What did you do with the tickets?

James: Well, I just had it. I just sort of kept it. But then by the end of the night, all of a sudden I started getting like texts and like Instagram DMs like saying congratulations, but no context. I was like, what’s happening? Did I win the lottery? I was like, what am I missing? And then finally someone like provided context. They were like, oh, you won your position for fundraising director in APAMSA. And then I realized that’s even better than winning the lottery.

Victoria: Awww, that’s so sweet. Were you, were you expecting that? Like was that totally out of left field for you?

12:05 Leadership in APAMSA

James: Right, inside scoop. So when I applied, so for my medical school personal statement, I like talk so much and touch upon so much about the importance of AANHPI healthcare or health disparities and like wanting to improve upon that, you know, like I feel like that’s the dream for so many of us as Asian, Asian Americans. And so I just really, this organization in particular, either at a local level or on a national level, it was my goal to be a leader in some shape or form, you know, like right away I immediately like became the local chapter president at my medical school. But when I applied to the national board, I like had no expectations. And also like if you go back and rewatch that video, there’s a particular like hoarseness to my voice because I actually recorded it while I had strep throat.

Victoria: The dedication. 

James: Yeah, but I knew I wanted to apply, you know, and there was actually like, I felt like for me personally in the skillset I bring in my personal background, there was not another position I felt more comfortable for, you know. And so that’s why I sort of just like threw all my marbles in at that one position and here we are. Yeah.

13:27 Creating initiatives and collaboration in APAMSA National Board

Victoria: How have you felt like it’s been for you this year? I feel like harder than expected, like how has it been coming up with the fundraising ideas and you know, having that creative side.

James: You know I, one, I think it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I think it’s just it is because, you know, you and Wendy, the External Affairs Vice President, my VP. You guys give me so much leeway and so much freedom to do whatever it is that I want to do to help APAMSA to help raise money and all this and that. So that’s, that’s the easy part, you know. But since I lack creativity, especially when it comes to designs and stuff for the merch, the storefront, that’s why that could be a challenging part for our listener who may want to become the next fundraising director, you know. But having a team behind us, like having that sense of like camaraderie or that sense of teamwork with other board members who have that more creative side to them, you know, like that’s what made my job so much more fruitful than I could ever imagine it to be. And I feel like I don’t know if this position is like really designed in such a way to be so collaborative, but being able to be so flexible in that way, you know, like always like DMing other board members on Slack. Like that’s what really has brought so much fun and so much joy. And like the reason why I want to keep on joining APAMSA because we have like leaders like you making it such like a homey environment or such a familial environment. So yeah, so for any listener who may be interested in joining APAMSA, I would say, yeah, just apply for it, you know, elections in March, lots of positions. We will definitely, we’ll find a space for you. But I have a question for you then. So since you now have heard my story that I was too shy to go to the conference by myself, have you ever gone to a medical conference by yourself or do you have any advice for somebody who is like considering going to one? Being nervous about it?

15:24 Advice for attending medical conferences alone

Victoria: Let me think. Have I gone to one by myself? I at least for the APAMSA ones, we always go, I’ve at least had a few chapter members with me and these days since I’ve been in a APAMSA for so long, it feels like there’s lots and lots of friends there. But I think if you’re attending a medical conference by yourself, don’t be afraid. My advice to you would be everyone like everyone there, the students, they want to connect with other people and there’s lots of other students who are also attending by themselves and want a buddy. So my advice to you would be to go to the breakfast, the lunchtime, the networking sessions, especially amongst the attendees. And if you just chat up the person next to you, 90% of the time, will have a buddy for the rest of the conference. So I think just shaking off the nerves and knowing that people there want to connect with others is very, very helpful. But I’ve experienced the same thing, especially if I’m networking at a conference and there’s someone like an attending or something that I’ve heard a lot about or I’m interested in their research and I want to talk to them, I always get that nervous pit in my stomach too before approaching. Sometimes I just have to make myself do it.

17:30 Choosing Dermatology as a speciality & residency applications

James: Right. Absolutely. And I think that actually is a really good segue into our next topic. Like you know, you have been to research conferences, you have done that networking and I feel like when you’re applying to residency, like that networking and forming those connections, it’s so important. You know, having the right connections can score you the most amazing residency. And on that note, like since you’re a fourth year, have you decided what field of medicine or what specialty of medicine you’re most interested in is yet?

Victoria: I actually applied dermatology this past cycle. So we’re currently in the midst of doing interviews. Still, we interview a little bit late, so we’re still receiving them and a lot of them are scheduled for, you know, December, January, even into February. 

James: Yeah. How did you choose dermatology? So you’re a fourth year, at what point in your medical career did you realize like, oh man, like Derm is the one for me, you know?

Victoria: So I realized during second year, we have a free dermatology clinic in Kansas City and I really fell in love when with Derm, when I started volunteering there, I got to see kind of the procedural side of it. I got to see, it’s very, it’s very dynamic specialty. In my opinion, you have to be like, think quickly on your feet. There’s always a lot going on and I really love that about it. But what really sold it for me was this free Derm clinic, we see a lot of underserved patients. A lot of them have really severe skin disease. So I saw how much we’re able to help them, especially that patient population. And I really saw the disparities, the socioeconomic disparities kind of manifest in skin disease. And one thing that I think that I found super special was that we have lots of creative options to help these patients. So this free Derm clinic, we have a special 340B pharmacy. We’re able to get them biologics for like $4 a month, like patients who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it. That’s really when I fell in love with Derm, but then I waited until I was done with all my clerkships third year and I still felt that Derm was for me. So that’s when I knew for sure.

James: Yeah, that’s awesome. You must be one very hardworking student because I know how difficult it may be to land a dermatology residency. 

Victoria: Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed.

19:49 Dermatology research fellowship

James: No, we believe in you. We’re all listening. All of the listeners, we believe in you. So you also did a one year fellowship, dermatology research fellowship, right? Could you tell us more about that? 

Victoria: Yeah, so I did this at Northwestern and my research mainly focused on developing guidelines within dermatology and it involved a lot of multidisciplinary work as well. But I really worked on a few, like for example, guidelines for when to do cosmetic procedures in minors. And it was a multidisciplinary offer of plastic surgeons, pediatric subspecialties, there’s

dermatologists, dermatologic surgeons, medical ethicists. So I really loved working with these different specialties, different groups of people and kind of, I felt some agency in my research getting to really convene the panel, do the literature search, bring the experts together and have them meet consensus and then kind of finalize the guidelines. So just loved the process, love that we’re able to standardize care.

21:11 Dermatology research conferences

James: Has your work brought you to like any cool conferences? Like have you been all over the US for it yet?

Victoria: Actually, I feel very fortunate. I was able to go to quite a few conferences during my research year. So I went to AAD, that’s American Academy of Dermatology. That was in San Diego. I was able to go to the American College of Mohs Surgeons conference in Arizona. I went to the American Society of Lasers in Medical Science. That was in Baltimore. So really did get to travel all over and I’m very, very grateful for that. Met a lot of people, heard a lot of interesting research as well. Very rewarding.

21:53 Subspecialties within Dermatology

James: Definitely. And then you touched on seeing like a variety of different like dermatology, like folks who like specialize in different fields of dermatology, right? Do you know like if you want to subspecialize within dermatology or, because to be honest, like as for me as a second year, I haven’t even gotten close to anything Derm and then also I’m in my little bubble of like, I want to be a future psychiatrist. So I really yeah, so I have really no idea what’s going on in Derm.

Victoria: I’m still undecided. I’m kind of keeping my mind open and I think I’ll decide once I get a little bit more exposure to Derm. But as far as topics within Derm that interest me, I do think medical dermatology, like all the systemic diseases like lupus, scleroderma, like all the skin diseases that have systemic organ manifestations, that stuff interests me because there’s like a lot of, I don’t know, like a lot of the treatments for that are super complicated. You have to be like pretty experimental. So that’s something I’m interested in. I’m not sure yet. As far as the different specialties within Derm, we have Mohs surgery, we have peds Derm, we have dermatopathology, and I think it’s like 50/50 whether people split or not. Like some people just practice gen-derm and others like go on to do fellowship. So undecided, keeping my mind open.

23:28 Skincare & other misconceptions in Dermatology

James: So is there, and so I know skincare is like a huge part of Derm. Is there one misconception, not it doesn’t have to be about skincare, I guess, but like just in general, is there one misconception do you think that you would like to correct upon that many people have about the field of either dermatology or if you want to go very specifically about skincare? Because that’s something everyone can relate to, you know, or like any words of wisdom you have that really should be shared. 

Victoria: I think one misconception that people have is that dermatologists just treat acne. They just do cosmetic treatments. It’s all about like looks. And while that there is like a subspecialty of Derm that is cosmetics, the majority of the time we do kind of like I was saying about medical dermatology, Derm is like the intersection of many specialties. We have the opportunity to work closely with rheumatology, say if our patients have inflammatory arthritis like psoriatic arthritis, we have the opportunity to work with allergy, like if patients have like an eczema allergy overlap. So we really are also like a very medical specialty as well. And it’s not just about appearances. We also really help patients in that sense.

25:14 What are you looking forward to in your medical career?

James: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for clearing that up. That is also, I don’t want to say I’ve had that misconception, but you know, I’ve had that thought. But so since residency is in your near future, just right around the corner, I think that leads us to our final topic. And that’s what is something you look forward to in your medical career?

Victoria: I think I really look forward to working in the specialty that I’m interested in. I’m just excited. I’m already envisioning myself as a resident, young attending, getting to start and build those longitudinal relationships with patients. I think that’s so special. One of the reasons I was drawn to medicine in the first place, but I’ve, I’ve been in work with some dermatologists who’ve treated patients from like childhood all the way into adulthood. And that’s so special. I want the same thing. One other thing that I’m really excited to do, we also, we touched a little bit about

this earlier. I’m really excited to work in a mentorship role with medical students and residents. I’ve loved all the opportunities that I’ve had to, you know, work in that capacity. And just excited to like have a career and incorporate teaching in that.

26:22 Relocating for residency and beyond

James: Do you think would you ever go back to South Pennsylvania? South is it or East? Near Philly is what I’m asking.

Victoria: Oh yeah, for sure. I think I’m pretty much open to ending up wherever I do think like the Northeast has this special place in my heart, just cause you know, family’s close by. I really think of myself as a city girl, but after living in the Midwest for six years, I also really like it. So I’d be happy to go anywhere. We’ll find out in March.

James: Definitely. I actually, I don’t have like the exact same trajectory as you, but so for me myself, I grew up in Southern California, right? Okay. So before matriculating into medical school, I was in Philadelphia for two years. Like I was like, I was in center city and like, even so whenever somebody asks me where I’m from or what’s my hometown, I always have to say, yeah, I’m from San Diego and they’re like, oh, so great. But I’m like, no, but I love Philly. I love the city life and that’s like what I am like trying my best to work so hard for so I could place like land a residency in some big city, you know. 

27:02 Philadelphia & city life

Victoria: What was like, what were you working in Philly at the time? And also what was your favorite part about living there?

James: Oh, so I moved there to do a post-bac. And so I did Drexel University’s one year special master’s program. And then by the end of the year, I got into a medical school and then I would, but they didn’t let me know until June. And I was like, hmm, with it being Touro, Nevada, I was like, so in other words, I have to pack up my whole life in less than a month, like find roommates, find housing, you know, figure out everything. It was like, or I could just stay in Philly for another year. And so during that bonus year, my like finally free gap year where I wasn’t studying for the MCAT, where I wasn’t studying for classes, where I was just living my life, I worked for Johnson & Johnson as a scientific writer. And so that was really fun seeing the more like seeing the more industry side of medicine and research, you know. And so what I miss most about Philly and what I think really just draws me to city life in general is that, so I lived in like truly the heart of Center City of like Philly, Philly. And so for folks who are like really familiar with Philadelphia, for our listeners who are like from that area, I lived like essentially in Rittenhouse square, you know, so like Chestnut and like whatever, you know, central number, right. And so being able to wake up and then just take the elevator down and walk across the way to like some coffee shop, like being so accessible, everything via walking, you know, and being able to see like the same regular faces throughout the time, like of living in the city, like that’s what made it feel like home despite the hustle and bustle of the city. I feel like that may not be, at least in my experience with something like, you know, Manhattan, like that is such a transient city. Like people are constantly like in and out. Whereas like Philly, like people just live there, you know.

Victoria: Yeah.

James: So I really miss that aspect of just public transport being able to walk everywhere. You know, I remember like living in San Diego or living in Las Vegas, right. There will be a like, we’ll be parked at like a restaurant, like, oh, let’s grab Korean barbecue, right. And then we’ll be like, oh, y’all all down for boba, right. And then it’ll, I’m like, oh, the boba shops a block away, right. And then everybody walks towards their car. And I’m like, you guys, it’s like a three minute walk. And they’re like, oh, it’s a one minute drive. And I’m like, oh, my gosh, guys, I get it though. Yeah.

Victoria: I’ve seen, I feel the same way because I’ve seen both sides in Kansas City. We drive everywhere. So you get kind of spoiled. Like all you have to do is walk not even a hundred feet to your car and you have access to everywhere. But I will say when I was doing rotations in New York, when I was exploring New York, I just love like you get 10,000 steps a day, probably more if you’re exploring out 20,000 steps. So there’s nothing healthier than like living in a city and walking everywhere.

31:23 Rapid fire getting-to-know-you questions

James: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So fingers crossed, let’s end up somewhere great. Absolutely. So that pretty much wraps up all of our main topic questions. So we’re going to end our little podcast with a quickrapid fire questions of this or that questions. Okay. So it’s either A or B and just a silly last minute way to get to know you.

Victoria: You know, I’m so indecisive. So this is going to be, this is going to be hard.

James: Like pretty simple. Okay. It’s pretty like your heart will ust speak for itself. You know? All right. You ready? Yes. All right. I think we know the answer to this one, but city or beach.

Victoria: City

James: Cats or dogs.

Victoria: Definitely dogs. There’s so I’m also allergic to cats. So that was an easy one.

James: Text or call?

Victoria: Call 

James: Black or white?

Victoria: Black.

James: Morning or night?

Victoria: Hmm. Definitely a night person. I’m a night owl.

James: Nice. Summer or winter.

Victoria: Summer.

James: I can see that coming from the Northeast. Breakfast or dinner.

Victoria: Love breakfast. Actually brunch is my favorite meal. Eggs, eggs, potatoes. Amazing.

James: Would you rather have the power to be invisible or the power to read minds?

Victoria: I think I like to be invisible. Sometimes you just don’t want to be perceived. And also I think if I have the ability to read minds, it would just be so overwhelming. Just thoughts coming at me from everywhere.

James: Definitely. And then last two questions. Would you rather have $100,000 to spend on yourself or have a million you can only spend on others?

Victoria: I would have a million dollars to spend on others. Just so much more we could do with that.

James: Definitely. And then for our last this or that question, would you rather retake step one or retake the MCAT?

Victoria: Fun fact. So I have never taken the MCAT because our school, the six year program, we don’t have to take that. So I don’t know what that’s like, but I will. But we’ll say I would take that. 

James: Take the MCAT?

Victoria: Take the MCAT.

James: Well, that’s a good plug. 

Victoria: Yeah. Have you taken step one yet?

James: No, I haven’t.

Victoria: You should survey. I want to see what other people say to that.

34:08 Advice for pre-medical and medical students

James: Yeah. I will let you know for our next – I’ll say this is what Vic said. Well, in that case, that wraps up our this-or-that question. Thank you for your candid honesty. We would like to end the first episode of White Coats and Rice with seeking out advice from you. So what is one piece of advice you’d like to offer someone who’s, you know, either a pre-med or medical student who dreams of getting into medical school or even more importantly, you know, getting to the finish line slash where you’re at as a fourth year medical student?

Victoria: I would say that really trust your own journey. Everyone’s journey is going to be different. If you ask a hundred medical students, all of them will have had different experiences

with whether they took gap years or not, what they did during their gap years, even their journey throughout medical school. So I think one of the biggest things I would say is to stop comparing yourself to others and really trust your own journey. And I heard this quote once and it really stuck with me or more just a way of thinking about things. So one, a resident, I think I heard this on a podcast. She said, “pretend like you’re driving a car, the destination where you want to go, you put that into the GPS, you’re going to get there. Now it’s all about really enjoying the journey itself.” So that really stuck with me. No matter what, like whether your goal right now is to get into medical school or your goal is like, you’re currently thick of applying to residency and you want to get into your dream residency, you’ve already put the destination to your GPS. You’re going to get there. Now it’s about just doing the driving.

James: Definitely. Yeah, that as a second year and as a, you know, somebody who wants to be on like higher leadership of APAMSA, that is definitely something I needed to hear right now. So thank you, Vic, for sharing that.

Victoria: Your destination, Philly.

James: Absolutely. Okay. Well, all right, everyone. That is our APAMSA President, Victoria Shi.

If you have any questions or want to reach out, feel free to email her at president@apamsa.org. Victoria, Vic, it’s been such a pleasure getting to know you better. And we’re so grateful for you for being our first guest on White Coats and Rice. Thank you for sharing your story and inspiring all of us.

Victoria: Thanks so much for having me. First podcast down for me too.

James: As I know, first of many, I’m sure in the future we will definitely be inviting you

to hear more about your story.

Victoria: Thanks, James.

James: Of course to our listeners, we hope you enjoyed today’s episode as much as we did. Don’t forget to tune in next time. And until then take care and keep striving. Catch you all soon. Thank you.