Unconventional Paths: Stories of Stanford Medicine faculty, researchers and physicians whose journeys into medicine followed nontraditional routes
Chwen-Yuen Angie Chen grew up surrounded by doctors.
"My gramps was a physician; I person uncles and large uncles and cousins who are physicians, and my household successful Taiwan adjacent owned hospitals," said Chen, MD, a objective subordinate prof successful superior attraction and colonisation wellness astatine the Stanford School of Medicine. "There was thing other expected of me, but that I would spell to aesculapian school."
But erstwhile Chen dropped retired of precocious schoolhouse astatine property 16 to get her GED, a aesculapian vocation was the past happening connected her mind. Instead, she ended up successful movie schoolhouse astatine New York University and yet followed her passionateness for spiritual studies to a Buddhist monastery successful Nepal, wherever she ordained arsenic a nun.
She ne'er expected Buddhism to pb her backmost to medicine, but the much she studied the Buddha's halfway teachings connected uncovering an extremity to suffering and purifying antagonistic past karma, the much committed she became to surviving a beingness of service. After 5 years arsenic a nun, Chen enrolled successful aesculapian schoolhouse astatine the property of 31, determined to assistance relieve the suffering of others.
"I came to medicine done Buddhism, but besides done my ain betterment journey," said Chen, who past period was awarded the 2022 Resilience Award from the nationalist Women successful Medicine Summit.
A storied past
Chen's aboriginal beingness was filled with challenges, including respective traumatic events and a conflict with substance usage that resulted successful a play during her precocious teens erstwhile she was concisely transient and unhoused. But nary of this stopped her from getting her GED and enrolling successful NYU, wherever a roommate introduced her to the creation of cinematography.
"I was helping with each these movie projects, carrying my roommate's instrumentality astir and helping her sprout scenes," said Chen, who became truthful enthralled with looking astatine the satellite done a camera lens that she requested a transportation to the movie school.
After graduating with a specialty successful cinematography, Chen worked arsenic a camera pistillate for respective years. She was drawn to Buddhism portion filming her grandmother's ceremonial and cremation successful Taiwan.
"The process progressive sitting vigil adjacent to my grandmother's assemblage for 2 weeks, ushering her done the Buddhist stages of decease and making offerings," Chen said. "I was filming everything, truthful I spent a batch of clip with the nuns there. One of them said to my mother, 'Your girl is going to beryllium ordained 1 day.'"
Chen had ever been funny successful religion and, successful precocious school, had adjacent considered becoming a Catholic nun. But during her clip successful Taiwan, she became fascinated with the Buddhist doctrine pertaining to cognition and existence, and what happens astatine the clip of death. Upon her instrumentality to New York, she continued studying Buddhism and, connected 1 pivotal occasion, participated successful a sunrise meditation work successful Central Park with the Dalai Lama.
Journeying to Nepal
While Chen was shooting autarkic films and tv shows, arsenic good arsenic exploring Buddhism, she besides worked arsenic a substitute teacher successful the New York City nationalist schools. One of her assignments progressive teaching wholly successful Mandarin, to students who spoke mostly Cantonese.
"I thought to myself, if I tin larn biology successful Mandarin and thatch it astatine this underfunded, at-risk school, past wherefore couldn't I larn this successful greater item for my ain education?" Chen said.
When fund cuts dissolved her teaching job, she saved capable wealth to determination to Nepal, wherever she was yet ordained arsenic a Buddhist nun. Her caller beingness included symbolic acts of renunciation, specified arsenic shaving her caput and wearing robes, and she spent galore of her days meditating successful comparative isolation.
"I gained this caller sharpness of mind," Chen said, and arsenic she examined immoderate of the darker parts of her past, she realized that she wanted to unrecorded a beingness of service, helping others who were suffering successful the aforesaid ways she had.
'No substance what, you're going to beryllium a doctor'
When Chen returned to the United States, she initially planned to use to nursing school. Daunted by memories of failing calculus the archetypal clip around, she told herself she'd effort conscionable 1 subject people astatine the section assemblage college, to spot if she could pass.
"But past I got an A successful chemistry, truthful I took different people ... and past different and another." When she amazed herself by scoring good connected the MCAT, Chen thought, "I conjecture this is truly going to happen."
However, going to aesculapian schoolhouse successful her 30s was a shock. "Before aesculapian school," Chen said, "I swam connected a master's team, played successful an orchestra, worked portion time, studied, and had important supports and friendships," she said. "It was a good and balanced beingness earlier medicine, but past I went to aesculapian school, wherever I became severely unwell."
Overwhelmed by the aggravated workload successful her archetypal twelvemonth and alienated by the level of societal drinking among her peers, Chen became severely depressed. She credits the supportive leaders astatine UC Davis with helping her enactment the course. "I volition ne'er hide the dean of pupil affairs leaving a connection connected my reply machine, saying, 'No substance what, you're going to beryllium a doctor, and we're going to get you done this.'"
A doctrine of recovery
After completing her residency successful interior medicine astatine the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Chen became committee certified successful addiction medicine successful 2010. She says her acquisition arsenic a nun straight impacts the mode she interacts with patients, due to the fact that Buddhism and addiction medicine stock 1 of the aforesaid goals: to find state from suffering.
"I effort to infuse spirituality and mindfulness into my signifier whenever patients are unfastened to it," said Chen, who came to Stanford Medicine successful 2015. "I archer them, 'Pain is inevitable. We each acquisition pain, but suffering is optional.'" Sometimes alleviating suffering means taking a medication, she said, but different times it means moving with a therapist, attending a enactment group, oregon making manner changes. Chen besides teaches meditation classes for her patients doubly a month.
In summation to her objective and teaching duties, Chen serves connected the Physician Wellness Committee and precocious took implicit arsenic seat of the Stanford subdivision of the CHIME Opioid Task Force. She besides advocates for improved policies astatine the authorities level for physicians struggling with intelligence unwellness and substance use.
For example, she is advocating to alteration the exertion for provisional licensure, which requires caller doctors to disclose if they've ever undergone attraction for intelligence wellness issues oregon substance use. "I've travel crossed residents who've said, 'I'd emotion to get treatment, but I'm acrophobic to get it, due to the fact that past I'd person to cheque disconnected that box,'" Chen said. "Getting alteration to hap successful this country has been slow. The appetite to assistance impaired physicians is not there. The attack is much punitive."
She hopes her advocacy efforts volition assistance interruption the civilization of soundlessness astir doc intelligence wellness and substance use. "Recovery is astir transformation," Chen said, "and nary of america tin instrumentality that travel alone."
Read much Unconventional Paths stories here.
Photo by mai111.
English (US)