Pikes Place Market. Taken by Sokleng Ly
Personal IntroductionHello! My name is Brandon San, a Cambodian-American who is passionate about diversity and inclusion in both the medical field and local communities. As a first-generation college student, navigating my undergraduate experiences has been new to me as well as my family. I am a third-year student at the University of Washington studying Biology with minors in Chemistry, Neuroscience and Health Studies. On and off campus, I am an active leader where I lead a program of 400+ interns at Swedish Medical Center as the Assistant Director of Administration, a mentor for the Filipino Association of Health Careers (FAHC), a Lead Inpatient Pharmacy Assistant Volunteer at EvergreenHealth Medical Center, and the Founding and Executive Officer of UW KhSA KAREs (Khmer Student Association Khmer Advocates for Resilience in Education), and continue to seek professional opportunities utilizing and building upon my leadership skills.
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CORE VALUES
AmbitionWhat this means to me is pushing the boundaries. Challenging current ideas and perspectives of what we currently know. Setting a goal that is ambitious. Throughout my leadership career, I have always pushed and challenged myself. Adapting and rising to new challenges. This is important to me because by being ambitious, I was able to open up the opportunities and got me to where I am today.
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ResilienceWhat this means to me is the Cambodian community. How much do you want something and how willing are you to overcome those obstacles? To strengthen a community that was ravaged by genocide, and to empower one another to rise above adversity. This is important to me because this word is the representation of my community and identity.
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PassionWhat this means to me is something that will get me motivated to get out of bed every morning. I think passion is not a single item. It is something that give me endless desire and enthusiasm. This is important to me because by being passionate, I am willing to go through great lengths to get what I want.
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Unique Leadership Identities
Team PlayerCollaborative workplace is one of the vital components of my job. I think the team sees value in working together as a common goal gives people a meaningful reason to work together. Where diverse ideas come together to solve a single problem. I think that it is crucial to learn how to work with others whether it be in an academic or a professional setting. That is why encouraging more people of diverse backgrounds to pursue fields like this can lead to increased collaboration and greater success in discovering and solving solution. Being an Assistant Director, I am fortunate enough to collaborate across other branches within Swedish such as Departments, Recruitment, and Training. Working with other Assistant Directors, we are able to utilize the strengths of one another to come together and accomplish big projects and tasks together.
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MentorI think the concept of mentorship is crucial to the success of a person who is trying to work in the professional field. I think the ability to have meaningful professional socialization and personal support to facilitate success in graduate school and life. But through this competency, I felt like that I have developed improved my communication and soft skills by interacting in this mentor mentee relationship. I have been lucky enough to have been on both sides of the mentoring process throughout undergrad. I think it is something that is so insightful because as a mentor, I've been able to pass on my knowledge and experience while learning about others. As a mentee, I've received so much insight academically, professionally, and being able to make it applicable to life.
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InnovatorI think the concept of innovator is something that I embody as well. I tend to like to find pain points of things that we have issues over. I strive for doing things as efficiently as possible. I think that any successful leader team needs to have an innovator in the mix. They are able to bring new ideas to keep operations and processes fresh and new. To consistently be able to improve current processes for the company. Innovation is something that I value within the professional field. I am constantly seeking to innovate and reduce workflows of my tasks and my colleagues. Examples of my work include the developments of Trackers, Fliers, and processes that allow us to work more efficiently and more meaningful work.
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“Why” do what I do?
In an ever-changing world strengthened by diversity, the need and acceptance of others are essential in acknowledging each individual and their journey. With every meeting I attend, I find myself thinking how to facilitate inclusion. Whose voices or worldviews are in the room? If they are not being heard, what can I do to change that? My devotion to inclusion and equity drives my passion for helping others in my community, providing a voice in the healthcare industry.
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2018 KhSA Graduation at the Cambodian Community Center in South Seattle
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Future Goals
As an advocate for diversity and inclusion within the medical field, I am passionate about linking underserved communities with access to healthcare services. I aspire to be a pharmacist. I have personally witnessed the tendency of members of the Southeast Asian communities to refuse to seek medical consultation until they are sick. Based on my experiences, these tendency stems from a lack of knowledge of mental health and preventative care. Since traditional eastern medicine is typically the first line of defense for these communities, I would like to combine practices from both Eastern and Western medicine to provide more accessible care to underserved communities, breaking the associated language and cultural barriers in the process.
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UW Khmer Student Association at the Cambodian Northwest Conference 2019
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FOLLOW MY JOURNEY
Connect with me on Linkedin!
Update!
Currently I am a PharmD/MBA Candidate at Oregon State University/Oregon Health & Science University. I currently have interests in expanding my knowledge on the integration of data and technology involved with medications to improve outcomes Connect with me on Linkedin!! https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonsan/ |
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Left to Right: Alneeda San (My Sister), Kimcheng Sok (My Cousin) and Me at my cousin's wedding in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. November 2018