“My parents said, ‘If you have a choice to stay here in Korea or go to the United States, what would you do?’”

At a ripe age of sixteen years old, this was a question posed to the young Yein Lee. Born and raised in Korea, she attended Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, and double majored in Biology and Art History. Lee, at the time, had some self-doubts about a career in medicine.

“I knew I wasn’t medically strong enough to go to medical school,” she says, “but I knew I wanted to help people. It’s the most efficient way, and there’s nothing more tangible than medicine.” Undeterred, she decided to do a post-baccalaureate at Drexel University.

Just as Lee was finishing up her post-baccalaureate and getting ready for medical school interviews, one fateful day in February changed all of that. It was a cold morning in Philadelphia when Lee was crossing an intersection and was struck by a car. Suddenly, she had to withdraw from the program but was able to transition into Drexel’s Masters program, all the while doing rehab.

Some may say, What a shame, to have to start over—leave school unfinished.

But for Lee, it brought a great opportunity. As she spent more time with her doctor, a physiatrist, she was captivated by the doctor’s teachings and biomechanic explanations of the human body. Her doctor eventually recommended her to apply to a D.O. school. Fast forward later and she graduated from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Of course, she couldn’t have done this without her family supporting her.

When asked about how her parents have influenced her life path, she notes, “As a first-born daughter from immigrant Asian parents, medicine is always in the back of your mind… I don’t think my parents ever really forced me to do [medicine], but instinctually, I probably thought it. Medicine is a hard life, but it’s very stable.”

Now, Dr. Lee who is board certified in PM&R and NMM/OMM reached nine years of teaching this past July at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Worth, TX.

With an overrepresentation of Asians in medicine, they are still underrepresented in academic faculty positions. Dr. Lee’s determination and resilience brought her to Fort Worth where she is paving her way forward and inspiring students to also take that leap of faith.

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So to that one question from her parents at sixteen years old, she heartily responded: “Hands down, I’ll go to the United States.”