…but rather the intersection of my queerness with my Vietnamese heritage, and my first-generation immigrant background. However, I knew that through championing all those identities, I would gain a more critical lens in examining our healthcare system and how the medical hierarchy can impact students and patients.

‘Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word ‘love’ here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace – not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth.

It’s so important for the healthcare workforce embrace diversity and reflect the population it serves. I personally wanted to pursue medicine because I wanted to see more openly identifying queer physicians championing the way towards better care, especially for the underserved LGBTQ+ population. I explicitly voiced this in my med school applications, was met with open arms at a number of schools, and now have the opportunity to work with other like-minded, openly queer health professionals.

As I’ve transitioned into my clinical years, I’ve been conditioned to be wary of what microaggressions await on each new rotation and service. I’ve obsessed over trying to find what my preceptors want and expect of me that I feel like I’ve lost integral parts of who I am. The importance of diversity in the medical field has never been so apparent to me, and if anything, these experiences have inspired me to explore academic medicine so I may mentor and act as a resource for future queer API medical students.

That kind of visibility could help you find mentors that really get where you’re coming from.