Member Spotlight: Carl Vincent Escobar

“Hi there! I'm Carl, a third-year medical student from the Philippines. I joined Hi-Med's intro fellowship in summer 2023. The content was great, and the fellowship was awesome overall, but the community that I found and welcomed me was the best part. I was intellectually engaged but not intimidated, inspired but not pressured to be someone totally different. Because of Hi-Med, I saw more options for an impact-oriented (but not impact-only!) life, and I connected to people who were in the same process of thinking about those options, trying them out, and trying to cultivate the better parts of ourselves despite the barriers to doing so. I found the culture to be incredible, as Marie even trusted me to give an intro talk for the community at EAGxPH despite being a newcomer. But what I love about Hi-Med is that it really makes a mark - its mentoring program and career fellowship helped me formulate clear priorities and craft a path forward after months of uncertainty with where I want to go. As just one example, through facilitated career planning, I figured out that going deeper into coding could be worth it, so I carved out time to give it a go. Acting on that insight led me to (re)discover my passion for programming, and I've been loving it ever since!

Throughout these experiences, I became more convinced that investing in the community is worth it. I would be more than happy to see it grow and reach more people, so here I am, hoping to help make that a bit more likely in the Philippines as an ambassador! Let's see where it goes!”