How early health challenges fueled two graduating seniors’ passion for medicine
Born three months premature at just 45 ounces, Jason Toliao spent his first weeks of life under the close watch of staff at a San Jose, Calif., hospital, a prelude to the regular interaction with doctors Toliao would endure throughout his childhood years.
As a toddler, Toliao braved weekly hospital visits to treat complications from jaundice and severe asthma. Though the frequent hospital visits subsided as Toliao matured, headaches, dizziness and MRI scans continued. Vigilant doctors, however, helped Toliao develop into an active, healthy young adult prepared to attend college 350 miles away from his childhood home.
“Because of the care and compassion doctors showed me, I wanted to be one myself,” says Toliao, a student at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences majoring in neuroscience.