Alex Zhuang, (MED’19, MED’23)
Specialty Interests: General Surgery and Surgical Subspecialties
What inspired you to host Melon Patch?
The Melon Patch was originally created by a group of friends as a Boston-based DJ collective for the purpose of creating and sharing music, as well as bringing people together. Music has played a pivotal role in all of our lives, and in many ways has led us into each other’s lives. With the help of a fellow M2 classmate Mymy Nguyen, we originally secured a debut performance at Boston’s Royale nightclub this past March, which unfortunately was canceled due to the current circumstances. However, we decided that we could still spread positivity and play music through a virtual stream!
How have you gotten involved in efforts to support the community during COVID-19? What were the outcomes?
In the past few months, seeing all the efforts of the BUSM/BMC student and faculty community in response to COVID-19 inspired us to make our own contributions to the local community. We figured that between the lot of us in the Melon Patch, we had enough reach to draw a decent number of attendees to the virtual stream, and that it would be a good opportunity to fundraise for supporting healthcare workers managing COVID-19 patients.
After talking to a number of classmates at BUSM and conferring with the rest of the Melon Patch, we decided to commit 100% of our fundraiser towards BMC Need PPE, a grassroots initiative founded by BMC physicians and staff, BUSM students, and BU alumni to ensure front-line healthcare workers adequate access to PPE. Given our minimal experience in organizing fundraisers, none of us quite knew what to expect or how it would turn out.
That being said, we were absolutely blown away by the love and support we received from our friends and family! Our stream accrued over 800 unique viewers over the course of the night and raised over $3,700 for BMC Need PPE! Our hearts were so full and we were so touched by the overwhelmingly generous support that served as a beacon of hope during these trying times.
Were there co-collaborators who you’d like to shout out?
o Ryan Aljondi
o Jack Gregory
o James Otis
o Dylan Valle
o John Fanis
o George Iliopoulis
o Raagini Jaw
o Lily Ganz
What is special to you about BUSM?
Over the past few years I have come to deeply appreciate the BU community. From attending the BU MAMS program to starting my first year at BUSM, the people I have had the privilege of sharing hallways and classrooms with have endlessly inspired me to grow into the best version of myself in order to better serve others. I find myself surrounded by people who have endured all kinds of life’s hardships, people who have accomplished incredible feats of academic and personal achievements, people who exemplify why becoming a physician is so purposeful to me. From the unique underserved patient population at BMC, to the plethora of role model healthcare providers and faculty, I find the BUSM community so special because of its passionately compassionate care for humanity.
What does wellness mean to you?
For me, wellness is about perceiving, accepting, and dealing with reality on reality’s terms. To acknowledge that it’s perfectly ok to feel the way you do, and to refrain from invalidating those feelings. I think it’s also important to identify ways you can address or manage the not-so-great feelings, as well as cultivate the life-giving feelings through activities like exercising, quality time with friends, or playing music! As a student of a healthcare profession, I constantly find myself calibrating and re-calibrating balance between school and other personal aspects of life, and sometimes it can be really hard. During my time at BUSM, I hope to cultivate and promote wellness in all its manifestations and forms through both school organizations and social activities. The privilege of hosting our first ever Melon Patch virtual stream felt like a wonderful opportunity to do just that! We were all so pleased that we were able to spread some wellness to our friends, family, and even BMC healthcare providers!
