Mt. Pleasant student makes her mark at UI

IOWA CITY — Aline Thiengmany, a first-year medical student, says she has always been interested in a career in medicine. Her parents emigrated from Laos, and raised Thiengmany and her younger sister in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.

Thiengmany's father had health problems when she was growing up, and she stepped in to help support her family as they navigated the complexities of the health care system in their new home.

"It's confusing enough for people who were born here," Thiengmany said. "But it's very difficult for people who don't speak the language, aren't financially stable, or have low health literacy. Helping him navigate his health got me interested in medicine and working with marginalized groups as a health care provider."

When she arrived at Stanford University for her premed undergraduate studies, Thiengmany said she was excited to meet students from diverse backgrounds.

"What I wasn't prepared for was the differences in wealth and accessibility to opportunities," she said. "The money that some people had, and because of that, the experiences they had that I didn't, that was one of the more stratifying things when it came to finding where I fit in."

When it was time to begin applying to medical schools, the financial responsibility of the decision was heavy on her mind.

"The biggest hurdle for me was the sheer expense of it all, taking the test, all the prep courses that were required, then applying to all the different schools," she said. "It's a decision that affects you long-term, financially."

Her reasons for choosing the Carver College of Medicine were largely practical: The affordability of in-state tuition, low cost of living, and proximity to her family were all pluses. But during the admissions interview process, she found the college to be an unexpected outlier in other ways.

"I really felt like the faculty had my best interest in mind,“ Thiengmany said. ”Even just on interview day, they made me feel like I was a valuable asset … Like my differences made me unique and meant that I had something to offer. They made me feel like I had a seat at the table."

At Stanford, she was part of a group for students who came from first-generation and low-income backgrounds like her own. She was pleased to learn during orientation week that the Carver College of Medicine also had a group for this student population.

"The people I met [in the Stanford group] became a big support system for me," Thiengmany said. "I wanted to explore this group and help build a similar supportive community in med school, as well."

Thiengmany now serves on the First Generation and Low Income in Medicine Association (FGLIMed) at the University of Iowa, where she is the advocacy involvement director.

The group offers a networking opportunity to students of similar backgrounds: first-generation college attendees from immigrant families.

"We'll start with mentorships between older and younger students, and we're trying to identify residents, fellows, and faculty physicians from first-generation or low-income backgrounds to get involved too," FGLIMed Co-president Michelle Bremer said. “We want to inspire them to consider it as an option and know it's possible to come from whatever background and make it here.”