Senior Send-Off: Kelly Wu
Name: Kelly Wu
Hometown: Toronto, Canada
Intended Specialty: General Surgery
What made you decide to become a doctor?
Patients. The responsibility and privilege of having your mission be to mend the wounded, heal the sick, and comfort the dying. Not just a job, but a calling that motivates you to get out of bed and be better than yesterday.
How did you decide on your specialty?
You can do a lot for the patient (“internist with a knife”). Best humans I’ve ever met are among this bunch. Interest in humanitarian work and compatibility of the specialty with global health. Work pajamas.
What do you wish you knew when you started medical school?
Getting pimped (i.e. asked questions you can’t answer) is better than being ignored. Being wrong is an opportunity to learn and get it right the next time =]
What is the best piece of advice you have gotten from an attending or mentor?
Be nice. Kindness goes a long way.
What is your favorite thing about your Vanderbilt experience?
The PEOPLE – your peers, residents, faculty, and administration will be your champions and the giants on whose shoulders you stand, if you let them.
What is your best piece of advice for an incoming first year medical student at Vandy?
Be nice. Kindness goes a long way.
What is your favorite memory from the past four years?
Tie between [1] tent bucket showers while doing mobile medical clinics in the Indian Himalayas and [2] doing my first open cholecystectomy during a liver transplant.
Are there any people you want to especially thank for their support and/or guidance during medical school?
Vanderbilt General Surgery – Drs. Terhune, Geevarghese, Brownie, McMaster, and Avery. All the patients who asked that we learn from them so that someday we may treat others.
What is your most embarrassing moment from medical school?
Unintentionally requested the song Started From the Bottom in the operating room one day. The explicit version was played. Profanity rained. I had to ask the attending on that case for a reference letter for ERAS. Still matched!
Favorite quote that represents your medical school experience?
“Started from the bottom now my whole team […] here.” – Drake