Kaiming Wu’s beaming expression has come to symbolize the success of FIU’s first graduating class of medical students. A photo capturing the moment Wu found out he had secured his first-choice residency has been used on billboards, news stories and Facebook.
Kaiming Wu is matched with his first choice residency at Massachussetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School.
Behind the photo is a life’s work culminating in a dream come true. Born in Shanghai, Wu was raised in St. Louis, Missouri, by computer scientist parents. He stayed close to home for college, earning a bachelor’s degree from Washington University. He considered staying in state for his medical training, but his advisor caught his attention with an unconventional option.
“One of my pre-med advisors made me aware they were creating a new medical school [in Miami] that would provide a lot of clinical experience and would be like none other,” says Wu. “When I came to interview, I really liked the idea of becoming a part of something as special as a brand new medical school. It doesn’t happen everyday.”
Wu developed his love for life sciences in high school, taking a special liking to biology. His plan is to become an interventional radiologist, a profession that combines traditional radiology with minimally invasive surgery to treat conditions identified through imaging.
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With FIU, Wu got what he bargained for – earlier clinical exposure than his friends who went to other schools and the chance to make history as one of the first graduates from a brand new medical school. As the first class of students to go through the Wertheim College of Medicine, Wu says, there were some worries when it came to getting advice and competing for residency matches against more established programs.
“It was tough to not have upper classmen to consult,” says Wu. “But we had the benefit of a group of faculty that was extremely receptive to student feedback and extremely diligent with any advice we needed along the way.”
Future classes will not have the same worries. “Already, I get a lot of emails from first and second year students,” says Wu, who is happy to oblige.
On National Match Day, Wu was elated to find out that his worries were unfounded. He landed his top choice – a radiology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston.
“I couldn’t have hoped for a better result,” said Wu. ♦