I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I was lucky to grow up in a community of Asian Americans. As a child, most of my identity revolved around pride in being Taiwanese. As an undergrad at Northwestern University, I happened to take the course “Introduction to Asian American History” in my first year. It blew my mind, and I had an awakening about my Asian American identity. While I was always proud of my Asian American identity, I did not understand it well until I started to explore more classes in Asian American Studies, which led to more Ethnic and Queer Studies classes. These classes were fundamental in my understanding of my place as a queer, Taiwanese and Asian cis-woman in America.
I continued to explore my interests by studying abroad in South Africa and minoring in Global Health Studies. Following that profound experience, I knew that I would have to put my lifelong interest in pursuing a career in medicine aside. I had more to learn of the world. I joined the Peace Corps and volunteered in rural Zambia, where I was tasked to be a community health worker. That experience helped me understand why community health is so important and led to my decision to specialize in family and community medicine. Because family and community dynamics are embedded in the understanding of a patient’s health, it is also a field in pursuit of social justice. Since becoming a family doctor, I have been proud to take care of patients from urban, underserved communities in Northern California and Texas. Today, I pride myself in serving a diverse panel of patients from New England for the past 2+ years since I moved to the Upper Valley for my husband to study at Geisel School of Medicine.
My biggest motivation is to do meaningful and good work, whether that be on a larger scale with diversity and equity work at Geisel medical school, one-on-one patient interactions, or caring for my family.
Diana Wu – West Lebanon, NH
