Alumni Story-Dreams Start Here at NAIS Pudong

In our series of alumni spotlight articles, we speak with Pia Herrera Padilla,one of our graduates who is currently working as a Junior Doctor at the Royal Melbourne Hospital having completed her Medical Doctorate.She‘s currently on her pathway to commence her specialty training in Internal Medicine.

It’s evident from Pia‘s interview below and from her yearbooks that Pia was indeed a performer throughout her time here, and it’s interesting to read how she had a couple of very different career choices, ultimately option for the one which she felt ‘Y13 Pia would hoped for.‘It’s clear that Pia received incredible support from the staff here at NAIS Pudong as she made her way through the important IB years, and she has some great advice for our current (and future) IB students about the value of that programme in terms of preparation for university and for general self-development and progression.Being both a performer in her younger days and now in a high pressure work environment certainly takes an incredible amount of confidence, undoubtedly embodying one of our school‘s values, while a career in medicine is a very considerate pathway.

Congratulations to Pia on the life-changing work she’s undertaking within her career, which will undoubtedly flourish as she continues her pathway through the field of Medicine. We hope your story will inspire many of our other students to follow your example.

Biography— Pia Harrera Padilla (2015 Alumni)

Pia is originally from Chile and moved to Shanghai when she was 15 years old, attending NAIS (formerly BISS) Pudong from Year 10 to Year 13. She then moved to Melbourne, Australia, where she completed a Bachelor of Biomedicine at the University of Melbourne, majoring in Human Structure and Function. She later completed a Doctor of Medicine at Deakin University, undertaking yearly placements in both rural and metropolitan Victoria. She now lives in Melbourne, Australia with her partner and is working at the Royal Melbourne Hospital as a junior doctor, about to commence specialty training in Internal Medicine.

Q1. What years were you here at NAIS Pudong, and which year group were you in when you left?

I was at NAIS Pudong (back then called BISS Pudong) from 2012 to 2015, being part of the 2015 graduation class.

Q2. What memories do you have of the school while here?

I actually have the best memories of school - I genuinely had the best time. I still stay in contact with a lot of my friends and teachers (all spread around the world). You create amazing connections when they‘re your family away from family. We had a great year group with very special memories I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life.

Q3. When you were very young, can you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up?

When I was very young, I remember wanting to be a singer and dancer. If you ask my family, there was always some performance at home on weekends for them to watch. I was always very interested in the arts, joining school choirs and musicals for most of my school years.

Q4. As you got older, did those aspirations change? If so, in what way?

As I grew older, maybe in the last 3-4 years of high school, I started to get serious about careers and the stress of choosing IB subjects and thinking about universities. I went into IB with two career options: Medicine and Design. They are obviously very different career paths but surprisingly a common dilemma amongst people. I‘ve met a lot of medical people throughout my studies and work and many of them were actually delving between artistic and science based careers.

During IB, we had a great career counselor that helped me ultimately decide on medicine. It was a tough decision, but ultimately doing what you enjoy and going out of your way to try and make as best of a decision possible is all you can really do. During Year 11/12 I went on work experience placements - design and architecture ones with some family friends back home, and then to Tanzania for a rural hospital placement.

Q5. If you stayed at NAIS until graduation from Year 13, what support and encouragement were you given by your teachers to follow your dreams in terms of career/life choices?

As I said above, we had a great careers counselor who helped us navigate career choices and explore university options too. Ultimately, the decision is yours and no one can make if for you, but having amazing resources definitely helped me make the right choice.

Q6. What job/career do you have now? And is it the same as your aspirations when at school?

I am currently working as a doctor at a big city hospital in Melbourne, Australia. I’m just about to start my internal medicine specialty training. We rotate every few months to different teams in the hospital, getting plenty of exposure and learning. It‘s been a very long and hard journey, but I think this is where Year 13 Pia would have hoped she was by now.

Q7. How do you feel NAIS Pudong helped you get closer to your current career/job?

From an educational standpoint, it prepared me very well to start university. The school helps you build skills which a lot of other students will actually need to develop during university. We come out with great critical thinking (yes, you can thank all those essays you’ll need to write), creative and language skills, as well as social skills.

Annoying things like the extended essay will make big university essays seem like just another thing to write. Starting university is daunting, but having these extra sets of skills under your belt will make that transition so much easier.

Having all these skills will help you navigate university better, whilst opening the door to opportunities that will help you get closer to your future career/job.

Q8. Do you have any tips for any of our students who might want to also explore your current/planned career?

Definitely research, research, research. Medical shows glamorize this career but the day-to-day life is a lot more challenging. Saying that, it is also a lot more rewarding too. But don’t go into this career if you‘re not 100% sure this is what you want to do. I‘d encourage everyone to seek placements; shadow doctors back home; reach out to current students doing the degree you are interested in; reach out to people working that profession etc. You can never have too much information to make a decision.