Immigrant makes his mark at UCSF
First undocumented graduate from its medical school
At 29, Jirayut “New” Latthivongskorn boasts an enviable resume. He’s a UC Berkeley and Harvard University alumnus. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree. Founder of an immigration advocacy organization. And, most recently, Latthivongskorn became the first undocumented student to graduate from the UCSF School of Medicine in its 155-year history.
Latthivongskorn completed the program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved, a fiveyear track for students focused on serving marginalized communities. He’ll start his residency training in family and community medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in June, through a UCSF program.
At one point, none of this seemed possible for Latthivongskorn, whose parents brought him to the U.S. illegally from Thailand at age 9 with two older siblings. He goes by “New,” a nickname given to him at birth, as is tradition in Thai culture.
The family settled quietly in Northern California, careful not to attract any attention for fear it would bring immigration authorities to their door.
“I really channeled a lot of these pressures and uncertainty into
school, hoping that that would change things,” said Latthivongskorn, a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which offers temporary deportation relief to young people brought to the country illegally as children. “I think the reality of being undocumented is, that’s not enough. That’s not going to be what changes things and opens doors.”
Latthivongskorn’s parents originally immigrated to Fremont. But after a school official asked his mother for documentation when she went to enroll New in elementary school, the family — frightened of being outed — moved to Milpitas.
Unable to speak English or comprehend American cultural norms, Latthivongskorn struggled in school for the first few years. But with time he thrived, challenging himself in middle school to read, write and learn as much as he could.
His parents worked restaurant jobs to make ends meet, and, in 2004, they moved to Sacramento, where Latthivongskorn attended Inderkum High School. Exposure to health and science in college led Latthivongskorn to pursue medicine, though he didn’t foresee the challenges ahead.
Undocumented students often struggle to overcome the personal and professional hurdles they encounter on the path to higher education. Those obstacles are magnified in the medical world, where undocumented students are in the vast minority and are often denied opportunities because of their immigration status, according to advocates and educators.
DACA has opened new doors for many of these students, though there are limits. More than 75 medical schools across the U.S. consider DACA recipients for admission, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, which noted an uptick in these types of applications.
The Trump administration rescinded the program in 2017, but a series of court appeals have kept it in place, allowing current DACA recipients to renew their status. The program isn’t open to new applicants.
Supreme Court justices didn’t take up the issue this year, making it likely that the program will stand until at least 2020.
Latthivongskorn’s status was ever present in his personal and educational life, at times forcing him to navigate roadblocks. School advisers didn’t always know how to help him, and when it came time to log volunteer hours at hospitals, it was difficult to find places that didn’t require Social Security numbers and background checks, he said. All of this kept him underground, reluctant to share his status with anyone.
But it was a scholarship from Immigrants Rising, and discovery of ASPIRE, a group in San Francisco for undocumented youths, that sparked his coming-out journey, putting him on a road to advocacy and policy work.
“For me that was the first gateway to meeting other undocumented folks,” he said. “It was much more of a longer transformation, but I think both of these groups were really a way for me to continue to, over the course of a few years, come to terms with what it means to be undocumented.”
Katharine Gin, co-founder and executive director of Immigrants Rising, remembers meeting Latthivongskorn as a fearful and vulnerable teen in 2010 and watching him slowly come out of the shadows.
“I remember the halting voice and the real fear and hearing him for the first time articulate out loud what it meant to be undocumented,” she said. “I feel like he’s someone who has been able to artfully combine his own personal achievements with raising visibility within the broader community he represents.”
In 2012, Latthivongskorn and two undocumented colleagues, Denisse Rojas and Angel Ku, founded Pre-Health Dreamers, a national organization that provides resources and advocates for undocumented students pursuing careers in health and science.
Feeling stuck and overwhelmed by their immigration status, Latthivongskorn and Rojas made a spreadsheet titled “We’re going to med school” to map out a game plan and keep themselves motivated.
“It seemed like a wall that we couldn’t break through,” said Rojas, 29. “People thought we were crazy, but I knew we had each other and we believed in the same thing and that kept me going.”
That encouraged them to share their insights with other undocumented students facing similar struggles, whether it was inability to access financial aid or lack of representation on campus.
Rojas of Fremont, who also is a DACA recipient, is the first undocumented student to attend the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
Rojas and Latthivongskorn estimate there are at least 120 undocumented medical school students across the country.
Latthivongskorn worked part-time jobs and earned private scholarships to get through UC Berkeley, where he got a bachelor’s degree in molecular and cellular biology. In 2017, he paused his studies at UCSF for one year to earn a master’s degree in public health from Harvard.
“New has been an incredible citizen in our UCSF community,” said Dr. Catherine Lucey, executive vice dean and vice dean for education at the UCSF School of Medicine, in a statement.
“In addition to excelling in his studies, he has consistently given his time to advocate for the type of society that welcomes and celebrates the contributions of immigrants, ensures that all have access to high quality healthcare, education, homes and jobs, and builds communities in which all thrive. UCSF is a better school because New was a student.”
During his commencement May 22, Latthivongskorn was recognized with the UCSF Gold-Headed Cane award, given to three students from each graduating class who exemplify the qualities of a “true physician.”
“It was a huge honor for me to get that,” he said. “I think I’m still processing it . ... By me being as authentic and vulnerable as possible in my immigration journey, that I can have this much of an impact is really cool and really reaffirming.”