Accidental doctor

By Don Weberg
Summer Forty-Niner
 
Most students will never meet Dr. Ming-Yu Cheng, but she is a key behind-the-scenes figure at the Student Health Center, responsible for student outreach and market research.

"The campus is our market, so I have to assess what the needs of the students are and implement them," said Cheng, wearing another silk blouse with interesting flower pattern.

Cheng completed medical school and residency training in her native Taiwan. In 1997 she entered Harvard University's School of Public Health, eventually earning a master's in health policy and management and meeting her husband. From there, they moved to Los Angeles.

"He likes L.A. but I like Long Beach," she said. "It took me three hours by bus to get here from Hacienda Heights."

When Cheng came to Long Beach she was only searching for a Harvard alum who worked at CSULB. Asking several people where the health services was on campus, she was directed to the Student Health Center. Her friend did not work there; however, a person with the same name did.

"A nurse thought that I had come in for a job interview when I said who I was looking for," she comments with a smile. "They sent me to the office, and I met the director."

It was the director with the identical name who chatted with Cheng briefly. After the realization of the misunderstanding, the director checked on her references and Cheng was asked to join the team.

"I got this job by mistake, almost," she says laughing. "But I really love it here. I'm glad."

Currently Cheng is a student at UCLA studying health and quality assurance and works full-time at the Center. Although the load is heavy, she says it's not much more than the average student.

"I really appreciate everybody's support and am proud of myself," she said.

It is her job to understand the needs of the student body in terms of medical and health issues and get the word out that certain programs are offered by the center to address those needs.

Although she truly enjoys her work at the center, she ultimately wants to work in quality administration for hospitals.

Part of her drive comes from a situation that arose in Taiwan a few years back. The patient of another physician whom she was caring for had severe abdominal pains, and though tests were run, there were no significant signs of what was wrong. Five times throughout the exhaustive night, Cheng was with the patient helping and testing.

"I fell asleep and forgot to run another test," she said. "A doctor woke me up and told me the patient was in surgery."

The pain was being caused by an embolism at the site of a very recent surgery, which had spread to an artery and deprived the small intestine of blood.

"Because of that I am now very detail oriented," she said. "It was scary and I felt so guilty."

That detail orientation has helped her immensely with her tasks at UCLA and CSULB. Because of her work in studying the needs of students, several new programs are in place at the center.

"The staff is so supportive," she said. "I couldn't do it without them."