1. What drew you to UCSD?
Lam:
I was quite intrigued
by the fact that the pharmacy school
was new. I knew there were
other established schools with great
reputations, but I’ve always
liked to go a non-conventional route.
I wanted to be a part of a group
of people working toward something
and I felt that was the essence
of what UCSD was all about.
It’s about the students, the
faculty, the community, and all
the pharmacists in the area working
together towards building this new
school and I wanted to be a part
of that. I still want to be
a part of it.
2. Tell me how you’re still involved at UCSD?
Lam: I’ve been a guest lecturer for a couple of pharmacy practice courses. I’m also serving as a mentor for some students. The UCSD student mentorship program was started by one of the students here and I’ve mentored two students so far. Pharmacy is a very small world. What I try to do with the students is encourage them to get involved in a number of things such as local pharmacy organizations. Academics are definitely important, building clinical skills is important, but so is active involvement and networking in the pharmacy community. I didn’t realize that at first when I was in school but I had such great mentors and pharmacists that helped open the doors and helped me see a lot of these things. So I’ve tried to encourage and help a lot of students as well.
3. What advice do you have for new students?
Lam: I encourage them to be open-minded and well-rounded. I see a lot of students who are extremely bright, and they are so talented and passionate about what they do. But a career and profession are not just about academics. It’s about communication, application, networking and involvement in the local community. The pharmacy doesn’t end with the walls of our new building. It goes beyond that. It goes into San Diego, our free clinics, our many hospitals, and it goes to people who may not be able to get healthcare. That’s where we make the biggest impact. At school, students learn the language and tools. But you use the tools in the real world. I also tell students to have fun. Work is still work, so do something fun with it.
4. What was it like to be a part of the charter class?
Lam: Every member of that charter class is like a member of my family. Together we took part in an experience that only we shared. It’s humbling and fulfilling to know that I had the opportunity to work with such a great group of individuals that had different personalities and different talents, that I got to work with on a professional and personal level. I still keep in touch with a lot of them. They’re like my family. When I grew up and came to the States, it was just my mother and me. I felt like the school, the community here, really is my family.
5. Do you think the family feeling is unique to the charter class?
Lam: I think the university already had the foundation there. They built the house but they needed people to live inside the house. And I felt like we were the people, the family, living inside that house. And as you grow up, people leave the house. But it’s still home. That’s how I feel about the pharmacy school.
6. What surprised you most about being a student at Skaggs?
Lam:
It showed me that life is very unpredictable. Going through high school and college, I’ve always tried to plan and be prepared. But I’ve found that if you continue to try to do the right things and be involved and be humble, things will happen in such a way that will take you to the next place, where you’re supposed to be, and test you and challenge you to do the next thing you’re supposed to do.
7. What initially drew you into the field of pharmacy?
Lam: Patient care. My first job at a pharmacy was at a community, independent pharmacy. The owner, Pharmacist Fred Chan, has to be the nicest, most genuine person I’ve ever met. I didn’t know anything about pharmacy until I met him. I worked with him for a year and he’d always take time, no matter how busy he was, to talk with a patient. All the patients loved him. He cared about the people. That was the first time I thought there was something within healthcare and pharmacy where we can have such a great impact on people’s well-being, their health, their happiness, their quality of life and that’s how I first got into pharmacy.
My grandfather was a physician so my mother really hoped I’d follow in his footsteps. But Eastern medicine is very different from Western medicine. We have insurance companies and other things involved. When my grandfather grew up and he practiced, he took care of everything, diagnosing patients, giving them medications. In Western medicine and modern-day healthcare, that model doesn’t exist anymore. Although I didn’t become a physician like my mom had hoped, I think she began to realize what a big impact pharmacists make in the United States and Western healthcare, and she was happy with my decision and sees that it’s the right place for me.
8. What drove your decision to give back to the pharmacy school by providing student scholarship support?
Lam:
My inspiration to start a scholarship is threefold. One is to continue to develop pharmacy for patient care, because that’s what my grandfather believed in.
Second, I wanted to contribute to something, and I felt pharmacy and my school is where I wanted to give back. In my third year here, I’d decided to give back at some point, once I had the financial abilities. I was going to do a residency right after school but when the opportunity to become a manager for the staffing company Rx Relief came up, I decided to do that. When I decided to take that job, it put me in a financial position where it was feasible for me to make the contribution earlier than I expected. And the way I see it, the earlier the better. Why wait? So I decided I wanted to donate $10,000 to the school.
Third, I love the school. I feel very blessed to have gone to UCSD to be a pharmacist. And without the school being here and my experiences and my mentors, I wouldn’t be in the position where I am right now. It’s very natural for me to want to give back to the school, stay involved and watch the school continue to grow.
And I think it’s my duty as an alumni, it’s the duty of all alumni, to continue to help the school to grow. Because now that there are alumni graduating from the school, there is an added group of people who can help propel and develop the school, and also give the new students some guidance and perspective.
9. Why did you name the scholarship “The Paul John Scholarship Fund?”
Lam: I called it the “Paul John” scholarship because the name of my grandfather’s clinic in Taiwan sounds like Paul John. It’s easier for people to recognize and pronounce. I wanted to recognize my grandfather and all he stood for and how he truly loved and cared for his patients.
10. Where do you work now?
Lam: I recently took on a new position at Sharp Coronado Hospital to be a staff pharmacist. One of my goals there is to set up future rotation sites for UCSD students. I also want to develop my clinical skills, and then hopefully I’d like to become an assistant clinical professor.
11. Where do you see yourself in 10 years, 20 years, or 30 years?
Lam: I would like to come back to this school. One of the reasons I decided to change from my management position back to a clinical teaching position is because down the line, I do want to return to the school and teach. I want to be more involved with students and help the school continue to grow. I hope to set an example for people to see what UCSD has to offer. As much as I loved my previous job, I also felt that I’m a clinician and a teacher at heart.
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