Le Aye

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“I’ve studied hard to do well in school so that I can become a physican and help people in need and improve the health of people in underserved areas. In this way I can help fight the health disparity existing between the rich and the poor.”

  • Program: 2009 Graduate Scholarship Recipient
  • Hometown: Yangon, Yangon, Myanmar

Biography

PROFILE: As a child growing up in Burma, Le Aye experienced sights and sounds that, though traumatic, sparked her desire to help others. When she was only five-years-old she witnessed rioting and the senseless murder of civilians by the military during the 1988 democracy movement in her native land. She saw children her own age weeping over their parents’ bodies. She was deeply affected not only by those who were killed and injured, but also by the difficulties faced by the children who were left behind. “That experience still motivates me to practice medicine to this day,” Le says. Her family came to America and settled in California. Le earned academic honors in junior college, and received a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship to UCLA. The scholarship, Le says, “has given me an opportunity to pursue my dream of becoming a physician and a responsibility to make a positive difference in our society.”

 INSPIRATION: Le’s parents had the greatest influence on her. Though poor, her family instilled in Le a love for learning and told her “the only valuable gift they can give is education.”
 
ASPIRATION: She wants to become an osteopathic physician “to help people in need.”
 
MAKING A DIFFERENCE: In addition to her course work, Le works on a research project at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, and volunteers with the Collegiate Medical Volunteer Program at Los Angeles County General Hospital.
 
ACCOLADES: Le is the recipient of a David Simon Scholarship as well as having earned Dean’s List honors at UCLA.
 
INTERESTING FACT: While Burmese is her native language, she also speaks Mandarin and Taiwanese. Le says she is also adept at walking a tightrope.

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