On Aug. 15, Kylan Naidoo donned his white coat, marking the first major milestone of his medical school career. It was the culmination of a long journey to Baylor College of Medicine that started back in sixth grade when he enrolled at Baylor College of Medicine Academy at James D. Ryan Middle School.
The STEM magnet school in Houston’s Third Ward, an affiliation between Baylor and Houston ISD, offers students an in-depth education in neuroscience, biotechnology, bioengineering and scientific research.
Naidoo was a member of BCMA at Ryan’s second graduating class, and his experience there influenced his future career path. As a middle school student, he took neuroscience classes and had the opportunity to participate in several animal dissection lessons.
“I think being exposed to these classes at an early age helps you determine if you want to do it or not,” Naidoo said. “Being immersed in it really helped me decide I wanted to go into medicine.”
After Ryan, he went on to another Baylor-affiliated health sciences magnet school in HISD, DeBakey High School for Health Professions. At DeBakey, he had the opportunity to learn more about careers in medicine and science by shadowing people who worked in those fields. Naidoo recalls his most memorable experience shadowing a pain management doctor at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
“I got to watch a procedure, and I also got to see how the doctor interacted with patients,” Naidoo said. “Empathy is such an important aspect. You have to figure out what will be best for their well-being and make sure the patient feels good about what they’re doing. It was great to see the medical side, and also the social side, of patient care.”
While shadowing a doctor in an M.D. Anderson oncology clinic, Naidoo’s name was listed as an author on a research publication in the journal, Neuroimaging Clinics of North America. His role focused on studying tumor imaging. “It was a good foot into the door of research, which I really enjoy and want to continue in my career,” he said.
As a DeBakey student, Naidoo applied to the Houston Premedical Academy, an eight-year scholarship program that provides students who are accepted to the University of Houston Honors College with provisional acceptance to Baylor College of Medicine, upon completion of academic requirements.
When he got into the program, Naidoo said he didn’t want to take it easy just because he was already accepted into medical school. Instead, he used the opportunity to focus on clinical and research experiences that enriched his love of medicine. As an undergraduate student, he shadowed a physician at a UTHealth movement disorder clinic.
He also had his first experience with research at Baylor, working in Dr. James Orengo’s lab in the Department of Neurology. The lab studies animal models of the neurodegenerative disease spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1). During his time with the lab, Naidoo studied physiological differences between genetically-modified zebrafish models of SCA1. Now that he is a Baylor student, Naidoo hopes to continue working with the Orengo lab and also to explore other research opportunities.
Jayden Bryant, another BCMA at Ryan student and a member of the program’s first graduating class, graduated from DeBakey High School, and later Howard University. Bryant started at Meharry Medical College in Nashville earlier this month. Jayden says BCMA at Ryan confirmed his desire to pursue medicine, noting that learning Latin helped him immensely with medical terminology.
Naidoo wants to bring one of his favorite hobbies, chess, to Baylor’s Houston campus. As a BCMA at Ryan student, he started the school’s first chess club. In high school, he started a nonprofit organization to teach chess to students in underprivileged communities. Now, he hopes to play, or even teach, chess with his fellow medical students.
“Chess kind of ties in my interest in neuroscience,” Naidoo said. “Teaching chess to kids helps me see how they learn and develop. At first, they struggle, and then they learn how to overcome that challenge, and a couple months later, they can play out positions that they couldn’t before.”
For now, Naidoo is enjoying his time as a first-year student. In class, he has been most excited about the point of care ultrasound workshop, in which students get first-hand experience using ultrasound imaging for diagnostics. Outside of class, he has enjoyed getting to know his new classmates at social outings and other activities like the Squad Olympics, even though his Orange Squad is currently in last place in the standings.
“I think these small groups that help us develop relationships with our classmates are one of the most valuable things at Baylor,” Naidoo said.
After spending the first few weeks of orientation and classes getting to know each other, Naidoo and his 184 classmates took the next step in their medical careers together at the School of Medicine’s 29th White Coat Ceremony. They donned their white coats and then recited the medical student oath, ready to get to work.
By Molly Chiu
BCM Family 