MahalDiore

I wanted a stronger sense of Filipino culture. I wasn’t taught much Ilocano, Tagalog, or Kapampangan, because my parents didn’t want to confuse me and they didn’t have much time or energy. I didn’t grow up surrounded by many Filipinos that were well versed in Filipino culture. I just ate the food, begged my parents to teach my Tagalog to no avail, and learned what I could from checking out the same 2 thin books about the Philippines from my elementary school library. As I got older, I learned more online and outgrew the shame that was being pushed onto me, I only wanted to know more and nurture that part of me. Some of my family would rather erase this side of them if they could. People discouraged me from embracing my heritage, but they’re wrong because I build who I am- not them. Everyone is going to have a different version of you in their head, so you might as well try to become the best person you can be and be happy with yourself!
This Etsy shop is not only a way for me to fundraise for my medical school applications, learn about Filipino culture, take a break from school, the MCAT, the massive application process, daily stressors, etc. I’m hoping that it will at least be a small way for me to put out something positive into your lives. I really love creating.
I LOVE baking and cooking. My parents inherited a bakery from my grandparents and I remember being 4 years old and eating cinnamon rolls while talking to customers. Baking and cooking are great ways to create, observe chemistry, do something nice for someone, and just make people happy. Filipino desserts can be time consuming to make but that’s what makes them next level delicious!
I played violin growing up and it became a part of my identity. I had the privilege of performing amazing pieces and I hold those times dear to my heart. I hope that someday I could join a recreational orchestra. Performing as a group to paint a work of art with sound is an experience unmatched.
I also love being active! I played some tennis growing up, did ballet and karate, and then competed in gymnastics as a beginner in college. It was crazy, but trying something new is exciting for me- I can’t let fear hold me back! That’s one of the reasons I started Mahal, Diore, too. Challenges always bring me lessons.
In 2018 I went to India with a non profit for a pre-medical internship. We were walking back to our room after conducting interviews and hygiene workshops when we passed a circle of chattering people. Later, a woman arrived outside our room. Light uncovered her swollen, bleeding face. I was the only intern that packed a first aid kit, so everyone looked to me. In between her wincing and my profuse apologizing as I dressed her wounds, I adjusted my body to intercept yelling bystanders, grabbing men, and flashlights of filming devices. I understood what she had experienced. I saw myself in her. A curious mob formed around us. I adjusted my body to intercept yelling bystanders, grabbing men, and flash lights of peoples’ devices filming us. Afterward, one of the other interns found me sitting on the floor of our dark room, scrolling through contacts to reach out to. My thoughts were loud with questions. Were her wounds sanitized/bandaged thoroughly? Was she feeling better? What was going to happen to her back in her home? More than a week passed before she approached me again. She turned her head in all directions and pulled her clothing aside to show me how all her wounds had healed, the hope in her eyes reflecting off mine. My program posted a photo of that moment. She was smiling, and I realized… I was too.
I knew then that service through medicine, with all its challenges, will empower me to live my life to the fullest.
I initially defined "living my life to the fullest" by asking, "What would I change about the world?" It was unfair to me that people suffer from illnesses at no fault of their own. Thus, I chose medicine because physicians heal people to overcome the mental and physical barriers to fulfilling their own dreams and potential.
Throughout my career, patients, nonprofit organizers, and other health professionals uncovered the complexities of those barriers for me. While volunteering at MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), I served coffee to lifetime smokers. I interviewed farmers in India that couldn’t afford sunscreen. In Chile, diabetic geriatric and bariatric patients rejoiced in my decision to be a doctor because they valued health and community. When I shadowed an OBGYN, women who struggled with addiction and yearned to be great mothers let me observe their toughest conversations. As a college organization president, and then a small business founder, I realized the value in dealing with the negative consequences of others’ decisions as if they were my own as opportunities to learn, help, and improve. Throughout 10 years of volunteering, I served Houstonians that distrusted healthcare or lacked the resources to participate. My community members spoke of COVID-19 related job loss and overwhelming grief as I loaded their trunks with food donations. I, too, often made sacrifices caring for my family. Others might assume people provoke their own mishaps, but no situation like addiction, poverty, obesity, nor overlooking oneself are straightforward. As I learned about patients' lives and the institutions that control them, I understood how cultural pressures, economic hardships, and race-related trauma limit their health. My community needed a resilient, knowledge-hungry physician that plans culturally relevant health care and research that considers the institutional biases that disadvantage patients. Who better to make decisions and execute care for a diverse community than someone that was raised by one, who was familiarized with their generational trauma and their obstacles to health education, and takes everything they say into careful consideration? That’s exactly the physician I’ve been building within myself.
When I demystify treatments for community members, I build trust between them and their healthcare team. So, I aimed to learn about the development of therapies that I will someday implement. My principal investigators’ groundbreaking works inspired me to consume hundreds of pages of research on Alzheimer’s pathology and immuno-oncology. Learning about each study was like engaging in a series of stories. Wet lab procedures were recipes to cook up answers. During my MDACC internship I reconceptualized my anxiety towards making mistakes to the embracement of failures as necessary lessons. Research also allowed me to produce novel data to benefit patients beyond borders. Conferences exposed me to how research can include more data on diverse populations. My urgent care clinical experiences provide a more personal and immediate approach to healing. Preparing boxes at pantries, running experiments, and point of care tests were fun, but the best parts were listening to and laughing with my community. I confirmed that my extroverted gravitation toward everyday patient interaction energizes me and is integral to my personal fulfillment.
Becoming a knowledgeable physician armed with community resources that splits time between clinical visits and research would fulfill my potential and make me happiest. The opportunities of various specialties, leadership, research, and media propositions for physicians are all exciting to me as creative avenues that accomplish the same goals–to improve public health and heal people so they can live their lives to the fullest. Especially since taking medical school courses alongside New York Medical College M1s in the Accelerated Master’s Program, I have experienced the perseverance, sacrifices, and dedication that pursuing medicine requires. They haven’t deterred me. It is a privilege to grow into a compassionate, expert physician to ease a community’s hardships and support their dreams. And though the pursuit of these goals will continue to challenge me, I have built confidence in my ability to welcome and handle challenges because I have learned to reinterpret anxious perfectionism as eagerness and diligence to serve thoughtful, quality health care.