Explore the physician…

Training to become a physician

Medical Degree

University of Colorado, Anschutz School of Medicine

Medical Scientist Training Program

“When you learn, teach. When you get, give”- M. Angelou

No matter where I am and what I am doing, I am always asking how I can learn and how I can help. I aim to be a lifelong learner and teacher, a committed leader, and a sensitive and compassionate provider.

Applying to Internal Medicine

Hei-Yong has found his calling. He is applying to become an internal medicine physician. He loves that IM is patient facing, multi-disciplinary, and diagnostically challenging. He loves how complex and stimulating managing multiple organ systems is. He also loves being exposed to the expertise of different subspecialists.

While he is undecided on a subspecialty field, his goals are to identify a question he wants to dedicate his career answering during residency. Then he plans to merge his molecular expertise with his clinical care to answer this question as a physician scientist.

He is always looking to improve the lives of his patients, himself, his teammates, and organizations he is a part of. He aims to be an advocate and a great provider for all.

But don’t just take his word for it! See what those who have worked with Grant say about who he is as a provider. Below you will find some curated evaluations of him throughout his clinical training:

  • Inquisitive

    “I feel compelled to comment on Grant's clinical superpower. For me, this was easily his intellectual curiosity. His eagerness to learn brightened our team's days and was palpably absent when he was off.”

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  • Compassionate caregiver

    “Grant was detailed in his history taking, and was able to focus on social aspects as well as just medical concerns. Grant was quite obviously caring for each patient as a person rather than just a patient or number.”

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  • Enthusiastic learner

    “Grant was very enthusiastic to be in the clinical space, had a very positive attitude, was eager to admit more patients and take ownership of patients (including going back and talking with patients who had a change of mind about wanting to be discharged and patient who were unhappy with care plans).”

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  • Evidenced-based

    “Grant regularly cited primary literature, instead of simply relying on protocols and accepted practices without knowing why things are done a certain way.”

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  • Responsive to feedback

    “Grant knew his limitations, always asking for help when doing something he had not previously done, but he also challenged himself and asked to be challenged. He took constructive criticism well and always sought improvement.”

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  • Team player

    “Grant was a remarkable team member. He made a point to introduce himself to everyone on the team and always found ways to help. He is an independent learner who is self motivated. For example, we had a patient with a rare placental disease. He researched this disease on his own and when the maternal fetal medicine specialist was talking to us about this condition Grant was not only prepared, but he added information that the attending didn't even know. He is professional, engaging, and puts the team first.”

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  • Patient advocate

    “Grant would go above and beyond and reach out to various consultants and staff to ensure his patient's get the care they need, whether it be consultations, procedures, or follow-up appointments. He truly advocated for his patients consistently and without asking.”

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  • Inquisitive

    “He is inquisitive and analytical and truly seeks to understand disease processes and the "why" behind the clinical decisions and surgical techniques.”

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  • Compassionate caregiver

    “We saw a consult patient who was young with new alcoholic cirrhosis diagnosis with very poor prognosis. Grant was supportive, attuned with the patient. He wasn't afraid to ask challenging questions (for example, how the patient felt about the possibility of dying, how his having a young child impacted this). He was very thoughtful in his approach and covered all of the needed information in a way that felt very therapeutic and helpful to the patient.”

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  • Enthusiastic learner

    “I do feel like Grant was one of the most enthusiastic students that I've worked with on nights! He was constantly engaged and asking questions… his engagement was a true joy to work with.”

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  • Evidenced-based

    “He is a brilliant medical student. He would learn deeply about any knowledge gaps he discovered during the rotation. He demonstrated a genuine love for learning.”

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  • Responsive to feedback

    “He is eager to learn and responds very well to feedback.”

    _____________________________

    “Grant responded very well to feedback and implemented this in real time.”

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    “He was very open to feedback and would incorporate feedback points into future encounters.”

  • Inquisitive

    “Self-directed learning - This is a real strength for Grant. I could see that he's incredibly excited to have transitioned from his PhD to clinical care and really just threw himself in day 1.”

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  • Team player

    “Consistently went above and beyond to support patient care and our medicine team - whether that was advocating for patient needs/hopes, getting a patient water, or assisting w/patients that he wasn't even following, Grant was extremely reliable and consistently followed through on all tasks.”

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  • Patient advocate

    “He is extremely personable with patients and was able to develop rapport with many types of patients.”

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    “Grant was a great advocate for his patients; he did a great job identifying specific concerns of patients and making sure concerns were addressed by consulting teams.”

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  • Inquisitive

    “He is inquisitive and analytical and truly seeks to understand disease processes and the "why" behind the clinical decisions and surgical techniques.”

    _____________________________

  • Compassionate caregiver

    “My patients respect and love working with him.”

    _____________________________

  • Enthusiastic learner

    “He was enthusiastic and curious and did a very good job of engaging in self-directed learning and finding ways to help his patients and support the team.”

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  • Compassionate caregiver

    “Grant had a great fund of knowledge that contributed to his development of differential diagnoses and management plans. In particular, for one patient with social complexity/substance use concerns, Grant was able to pre-plan with our team and develop an approach to speaking with this mother about her past history and concerns. He was able to execute this interaction beautifully while maintaining the trust and therapeutic relationship between our team and the patient's parent. _____________________________

  • Evidenced-based

    “Grant clearly studies outside of clinical interactions and comes to his rotation well-prepared and well-educated. He asks questions to link his outside education to our patient interactions and really connects the dots. It is clear he is preparing ahead of time and his effort is very appreciated.”

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  • Team player

    “He was a helpful, dedicated team member, following up with families, proposing questions and teaching pearls for each of his patients, and eager to advance patient care.”

    _____________________________

Education Reform

Curriculum reform leader

Mentor

Teaching assistant

MSTP Curriculum reform founder/leader

The University of Colorado school of medicine (SOM) sought to change their curriculum in 2017 to a longitudinal integrated curriculum. This major change would greatly improve traditional medical student learning, getting them in the clinic earlier and having longitudinal exposure to multiple specialties. However, for MSTP students, it meant the 8 year MD/PhD curriculum had to adapt with it.

Hei-Yong founded the MSTP curriculum student reform group to help re-design the MD/PhD curriculum to suit the SOM changes. Over three years, he led numerous focus groups with students and faculty, led meetings with deans, and helped advocate for changes within the MSTP. Together with the help of the CU SOM, the numerous students who participated, and the MSTP leadership, he helped make the MSTP curriculum what it is today.

Dedicated Mentor

Hei-yong has benefited from the many mentors that have helped him get to where he is today. His success is a reflection of their steadfast support.

In their image, he has returned the favor, helping guide numerous students through their training.

He was a mentor for the Mentor Collective, helping 3 new graduate students navigate the challenges of graduate school education. He has directly mentored an additional 6 PhD graduate or undergraduate students.

He also believes in structured mentor programs and has participated in programs such as the Young Scientist Program and the Young Hands in Science Program, both aimed to help underserved, elementary school children get exposed to future physicians.

Thank you to the mentors who have shaped my trajectory (in no particular order):

Jason Mills, MD, PhD

David Jackson, MD

Arthur Gutierrez-Hartmann, MD, PhD

Jamie Anderson, MD

Richard Schulick, MD, PhD

Michael Dewey, MD

Joseph Hurt MD, PhD

Teacher

Hei-Yong was a teaching assistant for two graduate-level classes for his PhD program in Molecular Biology (graduate core course and a Biostatistics course). There, he led individual help sessions, journal clubs, and group sessions.

He has also served as an admissions officer for the RNA Biosciences Initiative program aimed to help provide underserved undergraduates with laboratory experience to help them achieve their goals of becoming a biomedical researcher. He further went on to mentor a couple of these admitted students.

Unafraid of the hard questions

When Hei-Yong was ready to graduate his PhD, he was faced with the question of whether or not to become a principal investigator (PI). But he realized there lacked concrete data on the daily life of a PI. He found most students were exposed to a small subset of role models, likely biasing them to one decision or another.

He therefore sought to survey PIs at his home institution to answer basic questions of what the life of a PI is like. He received feedback from more than 130 faculty members conducting biomedical research.

He is currently working on publishing the data in a manuscript.

Leadership

Hei-Yong sees leadership as taking initiative in a responsible and sustainable way. In every organization he has been a part of, he looks for ways to improve the cohesiveness of the organization, advocating for his peers. Below are some organizations Hei-Yong has been a part of and some highlights of leadership roles he has been a part of.

University of Colorado School of Medicine

Co-president of the Palliative Care Interest group

Served on the Editorial board for The Human Touch, a CU annual anthology of art pieces created by CU affiliates.

Biochemical and Molecular Genetics Department

Member of the Committee to promote Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism to create social activities to increase integration for faculty members, students, and other employees.

Co-leader for the RNA Multi-lab joint lab meeting, hosting weekly lab meetings for up to 5 labs at the forefront of RNA biology

Molecular PhD graduate program

Was supported by the program’s T32 for 2 years, where he helped plan the Molecular Biology Symposium and Molecular Biology retreat.

He also helped host monthly round tables for trainees as part of the Molecular Biology Round Table committee

Medical Scientist Training Program

Served as elected MSTP Executive committee member for 2 consecutive years, helping to advocate for students. Planned numerous social and leadership events.

Member of the 35th annual MD/PhD national student conference planning committee, where we hosted over 250 students from >20 academic centers to showcase their research!