Making the Rounds at UNLV School of Medicine

Making the Rounds

March 2, 2021 Issue 273

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Friends & Colleagues,

Sometimes while you’re in medical school you learn something in an unexpected way. So it was for Diane Han, who’ll be one of our first graduates in May. A few months after she started medical school in 2017, the October 1, 2017 shootings on The Strip occurred, taking the lives of 60 people and leaving 411 others wounded. On that terrible night and on the days that followed, Diane was impressed with the teamwork necessary to help so many. “I was inspired,” she says, “by how public health, law enforcement, EMS and medical teams worked cohesively to respond as quickly and efficiently as possible. A lot of medical school is learning about hypothetical situations but this event helped me realize that the role of physicians is to use evidence-based medicine and all their training to diagnose and treat in situations that may be completely unparalleled.” In today’s newsletter, we focus on Diane, who plans on becoming an emergency medicine physician.

Marc J. Kahn, M.D.

Dean, UNLV School of Medicine

Medicine By The Numbers

Brain Tumors

About 700,000 Americans are living with a primary brain tumor

Approximately 70% of all brain tumors are benign

Approximately 30% of all brain tumors are malignant

Approximately 58% of all brain tumors occur in females

Approximately 42% of all brain tumors occur in males

An estimated 84,170 people will receive a primary brain tumor diagnosis in 2021

An estimated 59,040 will be non-malignant

An estimated 25,130 will be malignant

Source: https://braintumor.org/brain-tumor-information/brain-tumor-facts/

Bright Future Ahead For Medical Student

Inspired by Family Health Issues

Like many medical students, Diane Han believes in the importance of keeping a good work/life balance. Getting outdoors and traveling as time permits has been a big part of her medical school experience.

Ask Diane Han, a member of the UNLV School of Medicine charter class, how long she’s been interested in medicine and she remembers how, as a little girl, she awakened her parents by using a real hammer on their knees to test their patellar reflex.

It turns out that an episode of Dexter’s Laboratory, an animated TV series about a boy genius with a lab in his bedroom, had delved into how a sharp tap on the patellar tendon, which lies just below the kneecap, results in a sudden kicking movement of the lower leg.

“I was curious after seeing the cartoon,” says Han, laughing as she recalls that her hammer tapping, which did not have the desired effect, certainly surprised her sleeping parents, but did not hurt them enough to warrant a frantic trip to the emergency room.

The first time Han says she “genuinely considered a career in medicine” does not bring a smile to her face.

“I was finishing up middle school. My aunt was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and she passed away tragically in just one month...This is when I realized I wanted to be a physician because of how much it affected our family. I never wanted others to feel so hopeless without any treatment options.”

How Han got to this time and place -- she plans on specializing in emergency medicine -- is a story of respect for her parents, of tenacity, and of wanting to make a difference.

One of two children born to immigrant parents from South Korea, this first generation Korean-American says her motivation for doing well early in school -- she became valedictorian of Silverado High School -- came from seeing her parents work so hard as a dealer and housekeeper in the casino industry.

“As a child, I would not see my parents for more than an hour or two a day because they would be working two jobs to pay the bills...My parents always told me that the best way to help out around the house was to excel in things that I had control over, so I channeled all my energy on my academics. In grade school, I worked hard to excel in my classes so it was one less thing for my family to stress about. When I realized how much joy it brought my parents to excel in my academic career, it became an addicting positive reinforcement that simultaneously brought me unimaginable opportunities. I was motivated to excel because I knew it would make my parents happy.”

"Our family physician had a three month wait for an appointment

so I took him to the emergency room where he was diagnosed with leukemia

and admitted to the oncology unit the same day."

4th Year Medical Student Diane Han

Young adulthood, she says, meant more than pleasing her parents. It’s also about fulfilling personal goals. One goal, to work for a Silicon Valley biotechnology startup, seemed close to reality when she was accepted at the nearby University of California Berkeley for undergraduate work. She learned, however, fulfilling that goal wouldn’t come easy.

“I struggled to keep up with my peers as a pre-med major at UC Berkeley. I put in more hours than my classmates just to keep up and stayed up long nights to understand concepts that my peers seemed to understand in half the time. But my dedication and discipline gave me the realization I truly wanted a future in medicine because of my unwavering effort to continue even when I was presented with frustrating challenges throughout my undergraduate career.”

On her way to becoming a physician, Han’s Silicon Valley dream did come true. “It was an incredible moment when I...worked at a biotechnology startup as my first career after graduating.”

Han’s work as a biochemist would soon morph into a return to Las Vegas, where the TaeKwonDo blackbelt worked as a scribe at hospitals prior to beginning medical school.

“I knew I wanted to come back to serve the community that I grew up in. I understand all the things that our healthcare lacked through being my parents’ caretaker...I knew I would be proud to help the initial efforts to build a better healthcare system.”

At the end of her second year of medical school -- Han received a full tuition scholarship from the Engelstad Foundation -- she decided she’d be best suited to emergency medicine.

“My father began losing weight, and I noticed his gums were bleeding. Our family physician had a three month wait for an appointment so I took him to the emergency room where he was diagnosed with leukemia and admitted to the oncology unit the same day. I remember feeling overwhelmed, but was put to ease immediately by the compassionate care of his emergency department physician. He calmly answered all of our questions and assured us that although my father was very sick, they would take good care of him. In retrospect, that experience ignited my passion for emergency medicine. Without the emergency department, we would not have made the diagnosis in such a timely manner.”

A long distance runner who has participated in half marathons throughout medical school, Han is clear about the kind of emergency physician she plans to be.

“Like the ER physician who diagnosed my father (he’s in remission), I strive to listen and connect with each of my patient’s stories and experiences in the brief time I have with them. The urgency of mortality does not discriminate based on one’s status or ability to pay, and I aim to represent comforting open arms for those in their most vulnerable moments.