06/02/2021
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month – Faculty & Staff Spotlight:
Ann K. Jay, MD
How has your heritage shaped you into the person you are today?
A: My parents immigrated to the US in the 1960s, so I feel like the Korean culture I grew up in was from that generation. My parents were children in post-war South Korea so I think the trauma of that experience heavily influenced their parenting styles. I was raised in a very Korean household and lived in a very homogenous area, always being only a handful of Asian families in my schools. I grew up with the ideals that education was the most important asset; that grit and resilience and hard work trumps everything; that family loyalty is of supreme importance; that elders are to be respected and honored without exception; that taking short cuts in life only short changes you; don't sit on your laurels because you got the highest grade in the class because #2 is going to work harder to knock you off of that seat; and that humility is the most important attribute to have - except if your kid gets into Harvard.
I also learned that men were more important than women and that women played a subservient role to men; that women need to be quiet and not have opinions, especially if it is discordant with those of the men; that I needed to be perfect or else not show up at all.
I think there was a period of struggling to find my identity. But I am clear of that know. I am American. I am so American - I absolutely do not identify with Korean people who live in Korea. But I am also fully aware that I am an American who grew up and lives in an America with an Asian face and because of that, I am regarded by my ethnicity first before anything else.
What does being an AAPI in medicine/higher education setting mean to you?
A: To be honest, Koreans are not underrepresented in medicine at all. I also come from a family of physicians. I have always felt that I belonged in this space. If anything, there was the expectation in my family that we all needed to go to school/training beyond college. However, being an Asian woman in medicine and in radiology which is a heavily male dominated field, has had its challenges. I trained in a different era of medicine - when sexual harassment and microaggressions and macroaggressions against women and people of color were tolerated. Through these experiences, I have learned to have a voice. And so now, being an AAPI in medicine is different for me. I see it as my duty to make changes for trainees and students so that they do not have to go through what I have.
If you could share one piece of advice with current and prospective AAPI medical students, what would that be?
A: I learned through watching my parents that we needed to be quiet in front of Americans. I wish I had known that being super quiet during my clinical rotations did not serve me well at all. I wish I had known that I needed to get over the cultural fear that then had grown to be an internalized, personal fear of speaking in front of people. So practice, practice, practice speaking in group settings.
And to reach out to mentors! I didn't know how to ask for help to navigate the medical education system. It's always better to have a game plan going in rather than having to do damage control.
