Lindsay Chavez on Leading Learners Blog

May 03, 2022

A Musician, Student, And Athlete: Interview With Roy Jiang At UCR

Please note: The original interview was conducted November 2020.

Tell us about your role at Prospective Medical Professionals!

Prospective Medical Professionals, or PuMP (the ‘u’ doesn’t actually stand for anything though…), is a nationwide youth nonprofit. We are dedicated to connecting aspiring high school students to health science opportunities via our social media content, whether that be through Instagram webseries, Case Study competitions, blog posts, or other forms of content. Earlier this year, I founded PuMP Vancouver alongside a few Vancouver high school students to bring PuMP’s cause to the province of BC. We did so because we all believed in the cause and were willing to dedicate our time to ensure its realization.

At PuMP Vancouver, I serve as the Social Media Director. In this role, I schedule posts, write or edit captions, handle DMs, and work to expand our influence by establishing mutually-beneficial relationships with other youth nonprofits across the globe. With the COVID-19 pandemic, we were unable to host any physical events. However, with the help of my amazing social media coordinators and the executive team, we’ve been able to further our cause from a safe distance through purely digital means like our two webseries featuring physicians and medical students, our Monthly Funfacts, or our Crack the Case virtual case study competition.

Through the PuMP mission, I believe I have been able help those around me learn more about the medical field and its myriad possibilities. The resources the PuMP provides are resources I wish I had when I started high school, and I really do believe that through PuMP, I’ve been able to bring others these resources. 

What is a piece of advice you would give students interested in non-profit work? How do you balance your time with non-profit work, extracurricular activities and school?

Grasp your opportunities, provided that their cause or their field appeals to you! Non-profit work requires time, so it’s important that you make sure that you are willing to devote time to a given organization’s specific cause. That being said, you’re bound to find your fit – there are so many unique organizations with neat causes, so grasp your opportunities! A great place to find these opportunities is through the Instagram stories of youth nonprofits (@pumpvancouver, @pumpprofessionals, @pumptoronto, and @pumpcalgary are DEFINITELY good ones) as story-for-story shoutouts are very common.

As for balance, I would say that loving what you do is VERY important. The main four things I must juggle are my schoolwork (Full-AP is hard), track and field practices, music (clarinet, piano, and Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra), and PuMP. My days are basically split up between these four things and I would admittedly go crazy if I didn’t love all of these things. Find what you love to do, and make them your extracurriculars, because that means you’ll be motivated to do each task, and when you get tired, you’ll know your next task is an enjoyable one. 

What would you say has first inspired you to get involved in the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra? 

This will sound weird, but I would say it’s the dedication to music that I’ve always had. I’ve actually been a musician since grade three, when I started playing the piano. Around 7 years and a few thousand hours later, I finished my ARCT diploma in piano performance. In between that time, I had also picked up the clarinet for school band and actually loved the instrument. So, after my first diploma, I chose to continue pursuing music through clarinet, and ended up finishing my diploma in clarinet performance in January of 2020. After this diploma though, I definitely wasn’t planning on learning another instrument and decided to continue my clarinet studies, and one of the ways that I would do this is by auditioning and joining the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra. VYSO would help keep me engaged in music, and would also allow me to collaborate with others in a cohesive ensemble experience. 10/10 would suggest for all musicians. 

How do you define yourself as a leader? 

I like to be a lead-by-example leader, one who is right there doing the work along with my teammates. I like to be immersed in the work, and to work alongside those I lead. After all, a leader shouldn’t just be dishing out the work so they can kick back – they’re a leader because they are a strong contributing member. When I assign work, I distribute it so that everyone has a bit to do, and I generally like to keep certain people doing the same category of tasks. This way, they develop strongly in that area and the quality of the work goes up. Another way I’d define myself as a leader is chill, I guess? I don’t like to be bossy, and I like to be accommodating to the needs of my coordinators. 

What do you hope to pursue in the future? What excites you about this career?



I hope to pursue both medicine and engineering – bioengineering or biomedical engineering in my undergrad and medicine as a career. I currently think I want to be an anesthesiologist or surgeon, but who knows? That’s five years down the road.

What excites me most about this combination is that it will allow me to do two things: save lives and help people as a physician, and participate in the scientific development that is crucial to medical advancement. Wouldn’t it be cool to use something you developed to treat your patients?