No Crying in the Operating Room

Cecily Wang wanted to become a doctor to help people in the most fundamental ways possible, only to become disillusioned with the profession during medical school and residency. It wasn’t until she went on an international relief mission to Haiti in 2006 that she found herself practicing medicine as she had originally envisioned. She was able to help a sick person in great need, unencumbered by red tape and regulations. The patient’s health was all that mattered. Cecily has continued to do international work for the last decade with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and other aid groups. She has served populations affected by earthquakes and cholera, famine and civil war, in Haiti and Myanmar, Samoa and Nigeria, South Sudan and Syria. In the process, Cecily has been stretched to her emotional limits, witnessed the worst and the best in human nature, and learned more about herself than she once could have imagined.