Growing up in the United States as an Asian American woman, third-year Psychiatry resident Sirikanya (Sanya) Chiraroekmongkon, MD, said she felt like a porcelain doll – “meant to be fragile and objectified, but not truly heard or seen for who I actually am.” That pressure intensified as a first-generation low-income (FGLI) student and, by the time Sellers arrived at Yale for her residency, she was looking to rediscover herself through those lenses.
“The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) space is very diverse,” she said. “The struggle of an AAPI woman is rarely discussed. The struggle of an FGLI in higher institution, especially in a space such as Yale, is an underrecognized topic. The intersectionality of an AAPI women being FGLI is certainly never spoken about.”
But Chiraroekmongkon hopes to change that. Now, she will be sharing her lived experience with and guiding other FGLI students as a mentor in a program co-planned by undergraduate organizations Yale FGLI Advocacy Movement (YFAM) and Yale Questbridge (QSN).
Chiraroekmongkon learned about the mentorship program through the Asian American Cultural Center (AACC) monthly newsletter, which had advertised an application to become an FGLI mentee through YFAM. At first, Chiraroekmongkon emailed organizers requesting to be a mentee, asking if the opportunity was open to a psychiatry resident. The response she received surprised her. She was asked to be a mentor.
Hedy Tung, co-president of YFAM, said the group initially struggled soliciting mentors this year, so they were pleased when Chiraroekmongkon reached out about her interest in participating.
“We were super grateful to have her join us as a mentor, in particular to those with a passion for medicine and mental health,” Tung said. “She has been so lovely and kind in initiating mentorship and connection with her mentees, and I am beyond excited to see these relationships flourish.”
Chiraroekmongkon now serves as a mentor to five Asian American women who are undergraduate and graduate students at Yale. They all self-selected her as their mentor. The group will begin to meet every other week for an hour, on Saturdays, starting in April. Chiraroekmongkon said she looks forward to sharing her perspective with and learning from her mentees.
“I want us to be trailblazing together,” she said. “The most important thing I want to come out of this is that we all find it to be a supportive environment for all of us.”
And Chiraroekmongkon was ultimately able to connect with mentors of her own: Yun Feng, MD, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry, and Eunice Yuen, MD, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and in the Child Study Center.
Yuen said: “Growing up in the FGLI family and identifying as an Asian American woman, achieving in medicine once felt like a miracle to me. Seeing similar identities in Sanya and other FGLI Asian American and Pacific Islander women, I feel empowered and compelled to pay it forward. I believe we can channel our once adversity to resiliency, and model to those who need this supportive voice. I see this potential and gift in Sanya when I learned about her participation in the FGLI mentorship program.”
In addition to her work as a mentor, Chiraroekmongkon is a resident leader of the Yale Global Mental Health Program (YGMHP) for the last three years and co-leads a collaboration between the Yale Department of Psychiatry, YGMHP, and Imo State University School of Public Health in Nigeria to provide a novel model of training to primary care workers in Nigeria. She is a co-chair in the Yale Department of Psychiatry Mission, Vision, and Values Statement Writing Group. She mentors a little sister as part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Connecticut program.
YFAM is considering relaunching the mentorship program in the fall semester if there is interest. Those interested in participating this spring should complete the group’s Google Form.