Among the many friendly faces you’ll encounter at MBKU are these three future health care leaders. Each of these students embodies the passion and compassion at the heart of MBKU’s mission.
Caroline Quan, SCCO 2022
The Eye of the Beholder
SCCO student Caroline Quan did have the nearly requisite life-changing experience of getting her first pair of glasses from a great optometrist, and this did influence her decision to go into optometry. However, Caroline also had another, more unusual attraction to optometry: the eye itself. More specifically, what the eye looks like, and how intricately aesthetic the eye is – how beauty is the eye of the beholder.
You might guess that Caroline’s other main interest is art, and she has an artist’s eye for finding opportunities to think about her medical field creatively. “Art and optometry are very connected,” she says. “Beginning with clinic, and learning case analysis – the art of optometry is understanding how every patient is unique, with their own story and their own specific set of needs. We have to put together the pieces of their own puzzles in order to know how to provide care.”
This notion treats patients as figurative puzzles, but in optometry, there are literal ones, too. Caroline is fascinated by vision therapy, and its use of puzzles to train the eye and brain to “collaborate” more effectively. As an artist, she’s been working on developing her own puzzles and exercises to be used in vision therapy. One of the things she appreciates about MBKU is how it encourages students to have and explore interests both within and beyond the strictest confines of their chosen practice.
Caroline’s brother Christopher is also a student at MBKU, and together they plan to open a practice when they graduate. They are both grateful for the opportunity to attend SCCO, and naturally relish the family atmosphere. “SCCO has everything I wanted in a well-rounded education,” says Caroline. “When I came here, I was captivated by the warmth of not only the administration, faculty and staff, but also the other students. I felt welcomed immediately into the MBKU family.”
Aaron Hunro, SPAS 2020
Faith in Potential
Aaron Hunro had a lot of varied interests as a college undergraduate, including film and photography. But there were two factors that constantly brought him back to a career in medicine: his father, who gained medical experience alongside PAs in refugee camps before coming to the United States to train as a PA, and his desire to have a career through which he could serve and give back to his larger community. As Aaron narrowed down his options for where to receive his PA education, one factor in particular constantly brought him back to MBKU’s School of PA Studies.
“I couldn’t believe the effort they showed me as a pre-PA student,” recalls Aaron. “I sat down with the Director of Admissions, Leslie Lim, who counseled me in how to pursue admittance to PA school. I thought, ‘If this is the effort they put into a potential student, then I can’t imagine what they would do for a current student.’”
When Aaron became a student at MBKU, those expectations were exceeded, as he saw the student-centered approach in all areas of his education, particularly with his professors. “The support the faculty gives us is the biggest thing,” he says. “They have so much faith in me, I sometimes think they believed in me more than I believed in myself. This has allowed me to grow and challenge myself, leading me to become the best health care provider I can be. I’m truly grateful for it.”
Much of Aaron’s leadership work in the MBKU community has been about investing this confidence in other students who are like he was, through mentorship. Aaron was also thankful to see the philosophy of great effort extended to MBKU’s response to the pandemic. “They handled it in the best way possible,” he says. “Their number one concern was our safety, and when we came back to campus, they took great care to educate us about the new standards, and then hold us accountable to maintaining them.”
Rachel Chang, COP 2022
Deep in the Heart
Rachel Chang’s career trajectory was mapped out pretty completely before she began her internship at Children’s Hospital of Orange County a little over a year ago. After getting a job as a clerk at a local supermarket pharmacy, mostly because they happened to be hiring, Rachel thrived and she was encouraged by the pharmacists there to go further. She got certified as a pharmacy technician and then went on to attend MBKU’s College of Pharmacy, all with the goal of becoming a retail pharmacist like the ones who had influenced her. Retail pharmacy was a good fit; she found it rewarding to build a rapport, connect with, and serve the people who came in to have their prescriptions filled.
An encounter with a 9-year-old girl at CHOC gave Rachel reason to consider more options, however. As Rachel assisted the team who was caring for the girl, she saw how the confluence of the girl’s illness and the girl’s mother’s sense of fear and powerlessness opened the door to serve patients in a different way. “It struck a deeper string in my heart,” says Rachel. “Children are so innocent and vulnerable, and the girl’s mother was so scared, but I was there with others to comfort her, and to help her and her daughter. The experience opened my mind a little to the ways I might be able to have an even bigger impact in patient care.”
Rachel’s education continues, so while her plans for the future are not set in stone, she’s confident that what she has learned at MBKU will have prepared her for it. There is, of course, the demanding course of study and the expert clinical placements, but there is also the atmosphere of caring that permeates the campus. “I’m from Hawaii, and moved here to attend the College of Pharmacy. So, I love the feeling you get here of being part of a family. The faculty have so many open doors. They really care about us, and want to make a difference in our lives and education.”
Nominate a Student. Do you know an exceptional MBKU student? Reach out to marketing@ketchum.edu to nominate a student for a future issue.