Love for the Profession
For the past 16 years, Charles Asamaphand and Susan Lee have shared two deeply felt interests, which has enabled these School of Physician Assistant Studies students to form a partnership of common goals that has sustained them for all this time: the first is each other, and the second is a dream of becoming PAs.
They both knew fairly early on that they wanted a career in medicine, and they have both pursued this calling with determination and devotion. They began by volunteering in hospitals, Charles worked as a caregiver, they both became EMTs, and they both worked for multiple years as medical scribes in a family practice – all in the service of gaining experience and prerequisites for their applications to MBKU’s SPAS program.
A STRONG PARTNERSHIP
Crucial to their success has been their partnership with each other. “When you basically grow up together, you learn how to communicate better,” says Susan. “When you have someone who wants to pursue the same dreams and aspirations, you can build each other up and support each other.”
The fact that they are both becoming PAs also allows Charles and Susan to mitigate one of the issues common to individuals pursuing careers in medicine while in a relationship. “We’re lucky, because when we talk with other people, we really hear how some couples will struggle because of how demanding PA school can be,” says Charles. “Because we’re both in medicine, it’s a little easier to understand where each other’s frustrations or adversities are coming from, and to give each other good advice and support. We are lucky to have each other.”
Charles and Susan are entirely on the same page with respect to another aspect of the profession, which is the way that service to others is at the heart of their ambitions. Having embarked on medical missions and witnessed firsthand the way relatively basic health care can have profound effects on the developing world, Susan and Charles were looking for a PA school where service was paramount and the campus community was close-knit, attributes they assuredly found at MBKU. “When looking at PA schools, MBKU was always at the top of our preferences,” says Charles. “It has an atmosphere of a family, where the faculty support the students because they know each another, and it’s a place where community service is deeply ingrained.”
PAYING IT FORWARD
“Based on our upbringing and the adversities our families encountered, it was always a given that we would devote our lives to helping others,” adds Susan. “This is because our parents always instilled in us the belief that we need to give back to the community, just as we were helped during difficult times.”
Charles and Susan plan to go into primary care and family medicine, where they will be empowered to build relationships with patients and care for them long term, while taking every opportunity to continue medical missions. “Wherever we end up, in whatever specialty, as long as it’s a place we can apply our skills and knowledge to serve patients in our community, we’ll be happy,” says Charles.
“And hopefully it will be in the same office!” adds Susan.