By Vina Cristobal, UH Med Now journalist
This week’s #tbt (Throwback Thursday) segment features 2015 alumna Dr. Be Thi.
Ho, who graduated in May alongside 64 of her classmates at the University of Hawai’i Kennedy Theatre on the Mānoa campus.
After graduation, Dr. Ho traveled to Pasadena, CA, where she is currently a general surgery resident at Huntington Medical Hospital.
Family immigrated from Vietnam
She is a first-generation medical school graduate from Hong Kong. Her mother and father, who were both immigrants from Vietnam, now work at the local swap meet selling handmade silk screen t-shirts to make a living, and have always pushed Dr. Ho to do her best.
“My parents were always encouraging me to go to medical school,” she said. “Initially I wasn’t really interested. I really wanted to do research. After shadowing a couple of physicians … I really admired the physicians that I worked with. They really embodied the kind of person I wanted to be when I grew up. That’s how I got interested in medicine and started this really long journey.” While she was a medical student in Hawai’i, Dr. Ho assisted her parents with their business in her spare time – which meant waking up three days a week at 3 a.m. during school days and weekends. But spending time with her family led to an important life lesson for Dr. Ho. “Growing up, my parents worked really hard and they expected all their kids to work really hard. From the very beginning … My parents always expected us to work hard because they grew up working really hard and I guess they passed it on to me, to always work hard.”
Dr. Ho also shared a vital tip for incoming medical students and others in general.
“No matter how challenging things are, think of all the hard work that you do, all the obstacles that you are faced with – think of it as a gift actually, that will make you stronger in the end.”
Our video embedded above can be viewed directly from UH MED VIMEO if you prefer.