Humans of LIVE: Episode 2
“Having doctor parents mean that you see them working for 11/12 hours per day sometimes. This comes with pros and cons. At home they would talk about their medical practice, the good things, plus the bad ones- the patients, the pressure, the process. I was always interested in biological sciences, but I didn’t want to be a human doctor. In junior high, my favourite pastime after school was watching animal planet. By the time I was in high school, I was determined to pursue veterinary medicine. Even though I absolutely loved being a vet, the funny thing is, I never could get past around interacting with humans. Pets came with their owners, and it requires a lot more of work to convince people to go ahead with treatments for their animals than themselves. At the end, I found myself interacting more with my species than I anticipated. It is then that I learned to observe human behaviour. Knowing humans is a part of what I do now.”
A long-distance virtual conversation of the IVAA website team with Yu-Tan Chen, a cherished alumnus from the Montagu promotion, opened up known and unknown aspects of the Master LIVE experience and beyond. Presenting the second episode of Humans of LIVE exclusively for you!
Growing up with a Passion
I was born and raised in Taipei within a family of medico parents and two little brothers. My parents’ profession meant that they had quite a hectic life. I was always in awe with their work. From an early age they inspired me to be like them. The only difference, perhaps, was that I preferred a different patient base. I wanted to treat animals.
In junior high, my favorite pastime after school was watching animal planet. By the time I was in high school, I was determined to pursue veterinary medicine, and that is what I ended up doing later in my life. If there is anything else that can top my passion for medicine, it is my love for design and architecture. I am a design aficionado, which also means that I had my fair share of field days during our Barcelona semester. I visited almost all of Gaudi’s works and art galleries in the city.
Life in Taipei and Taichung: A Tale of Two Cities
With Taipei, I share a lot more than my childhood. After spending significant chapters of my life in Taichung and then in Europe, I found myself back in this city, contributing to the pharmaceutical industry in my country. I cannot name a single favourite thing about this city; there are so many. I love the familiarity of this place, the street food, always knowing where I can dine late at night. I am also fond of how well connected the public transport in Taipei is! haha!
My first time away from my home city was when I moved to Taichung to study medicine. I was a stranger to Taichung, and Taichung was strange for me. It was completely different from what I knew all my life.
Taichung isn’t well connected. You either have to know how to ride a motorbike or wait for a bus to come pick you up only a few times a day. If I needed to go somewhere, I had to ask people to give me lift on their bikes.
Another major difference between these two cities is the pace of life. Growing up in a metro, I am used to a fast-paced lifestyle. People in Taichung, however, prefer to do everything more slowly. Interestingly, this also used to reflect on how they walked and how I walked.
The upside of Taichung is its weather though. It’s much more pleasant than Taipei. If Taipei is Antwerp, Taichung is Barcelona. I am sure every Master LIVE student would know what I am saying.
Even though Taichung required a lot of adaptation in the beginning, I miss the life there. Maybe in my older life, if opportunities work out, Taichung can be my retirement city.
Getting into Master LIVE
While many people will recall their first moments of being accepted into the program as an ecstatic one, my feeling was more of a relief. There is a back story to this. I aimed to do an international masters a few years into my practice. Three years into working as a veterinary clinician, I left my job to prepare for international applications. The ideal scenario was to pursue programs with scholarships, so EMJMD programs were my priority. I chose to apply for two programs that suited my background. A couple of days before the Master LIVE application results were due, I was rejected from the other one. I couldn’t take it too well. To add to my anxiety, during our time, the Master LIVE results were published a bit later than the announced date. Those couple of days were agonizing. I remember logging into the program website every 3 hours and writing to Prof. Delprat, inquiring about the results. I had this creeping feeling that maybe successful candidates were already contacted. I panicked, “What now?” Should I go back to practice? Should I try something else?
Finally, the results actually came out. I still vividly remember the date. It was April 15th! The moment I realized I was in, boy was I relieved!
Best Friends Forever
I met my best friend, Helen, when we were 17. We have been sharing every aspect of our lives with each other ever since. We even adopted kittens from the same litter! I am her bridesmaid for when she says her vows.
I made some special friendships during my Master LIVE journey too. I find all my colleagues interesting. If I have to put a name to the best friend, that would be Allan Mujati. We started off as travel buddies. In Barcelona Allan would accompany me in my quest to explore arts and architecture. We made some memorable trips along the way. The best one was probably when we went to Moscow to visit one of his friends.
During our Lyon semester, in Crous accommodation, most of our colleagues were assigned to building A of the dormitory complex. Only Allan and I got building B. We turned from buddies to neighbors. We used to go to class together, cook together and even get mad together at people who made the kitchen sink dirty.
The Home Food that I missed in Europe
When I was doing Master LIVE, I immensely missed the street food, watermelons, and mangoes from back home. Maybe the only painful part of my life in Europe was to be deprived of the best mangoes that you get only in Asia. I also missed breakfast meals from Taiwan. My favorite is a rice bowl with sticky rice stuffed with all kinds of goodies like cabbages, meat, and fried eggs. I cannot make that on my own. I can prepare my second-favorite Taiwanese dish though. It’s an egg roll that the skin is made with a mixture of flour and tapioca powder. You dip the roll in soy sauce and indulge. I will make some for you next time I am in Europe, for sure!
If I hadn’t been in Medical Science
If I didn’t choose medical science, I would probably have been a graphic designer. My love for a good design has no bounds. I think it reflects in my day-to-day life too. Whenever I read a good paper, I start designing infographics on the findings of the paper. I love designing PowerPoint presentations. I don’t necessarily have to present. Give me a project and I will design it for you. Who knows? Someday I also may make a living out of it.
Reintegrating Into Taiwan and Exploring a New-found Passion in Communication
After the wonderful two years in Europe, I returned to Taiwan during the COVID pandemic. With an accumulation of life experiences both before and during the masters, I discovered my keen interest in analysing human behaviour and utilizing it in effective communication.
I started a new job as an MSL at Human Pharma Company, where a core aspect of my work is to analyse people’s behaviour and divide it into subgroups to identify the gap between their mindset and exemplary behaviour, which can lead to a specific action plan. My current dedication is focusing on atopic dermatitis.
Being able to analyse how people behave also means that you get to notice certain patterns in your everyday life too. Reintegrating into Taiwan, I could visualize how different peoples’ priorities are compared to Europe. For instance, a conversation here begins with common queries like, “Are you married?” Being a vet by background, I get some special questions like, “Vets earn so much. Why did you leave practice and join pharma?” Many a times, these would be more of a comment than a query where people are less interested in your answer and more invested towards expressing their opinions. From my Erasmus+ experience I can safely say that a small talk will not initiate with a query on the marital status.
Having said that, I guess this is the beauty of it all. We have diverse communities and even more diverse patterns of thinking and behaving. And as I said, my work involves deciphering them and devising action plans that cater to all kinds of people to make a collective difference.
Thoughts, memories, and realizations: Yu-Tan
Story telling: IVAA Website
Yu-Tan is a Master LIVE alumnus from the Montagu promotion. She is currently working as a Medical Science Liaison-Immunology at Abbvie Inc. She has received several accolades for her current role including the 2022 AbbVie President and GM Award with her team for implementing successful digital engagement plans for the company.