Medical school graduates first "undocumented" student (DACA Recipient) in its history

It is graduation season!  Tatiana Sanchez for the San Francisco Chronicle reports on a first at theUniversity of California San Francisco School of Medicine.

Jirayut “New” Latthivongskorn is a UC Berkeley and Harvard University alumnus, a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, founder of an immigration advocacy organization, and now the first undocumented student to graduate from the UCSF School of Medicine in its 155-year history. Actually, Latthivongskorn is a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient.

Latthivongskor ncompleted the program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved, a five-year track for students focused on serving marginalized communities. He’ll start his residency training in family and community medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in June.

Latthivongskorn's parents brought him and his two siblings to the U.S. without legal authorization from Thailand as a child. He goes by “New,” a nickname given to him at birth, as is tradition in Thai culture.

“I really channeled a lot of these pressures and uncertainty into school, hoping that that would change things,” said Latthivongskorn.

KJ