A science major, competitive figure skater and now Fulbright scholar in Vietnam, Tyler Fleming of Brighton has quite the list of achievements.
Twenty-three years old and just starting his life outside of college, Fleming has already traveled the world and published his research on third-hand tobacco smoke. Graduating with honors from Philadelphia University this year with a bachelor’s degree science and business, he already has his mind set on medical school — but not before taking a year off.
“I started thinking about what I would do with the year between my undergraduate career and medical school; I was taking a year off, that was always the plan,” Fleming said.
While meeting with the director of the honors program at Philadelphia University, he decided on the Fulbright Program to fill this time. The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the U.S. government, offers high-achieving students the opportunity to travel to foreign countries as part of an exchange program.
The decision for Fleming was only the beginning of a long and complicated process. His Fulbright application was due in October of 2011, after which he interviewed with a group of professors from his university. Then, his application was sent to New York City, where a group of finalists was selected by the Fulbright Program. In the end, it was the host country that selected the scholars, and Fleming found out that he was chosen by representatives from Vietnam on May 19, the day before he sat for his Medical College Admission Test.
“I spent a year studying in Australia, traveled throughout Europe, and I really wanted to do the Fulbright the right way — which was getting away from my comfortable, Western, English-speaking world,” he said. “I wanted to go someplace with a different viewpoint of my own.”
Starting this month, Fleming will spend nine months in Cao Lãnh, in southern Vietnam, teaching English to students attending Eong Chap Community College.
“Knowing all of this science is great and wonderful, but I need to communicate complex and sometimes scary things to my patients,” he said about the importance of teaching English. “ I want to be a physician, which means I have to communicate.”
For Fleming, it’s an opportunity to do something different. But it’s also an opportunity to extend the research he did for his senior thesis, which focused on HIV, poverty and education in post-quake Haiti.
A science major, competitive figure skater and now Fulbright scholar in Vietnam, Tyler Fleming of Brighton has quite the list of achievements.
Twenty-three years old and just starting his life outside of college, Fleming has already traveled the world and published his research on third-hand tobacco smoke. Graduating with honors from Philadelphia University this year with a bachelor’s degree science and business, he already has his mind set on medical school — but not before taking a year off.
“I started thinking about what I would do with the year between my undergraduate career and medical school; I was taking a year off, that was always the plan,” Fleming said.
While meeting with the director of the honors program at Philadelphia University, he decided on the Fulbright Program to fill this time. The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the U.S. government, offers high-achieving students the opportunity to travel to foreign countries as part of an exchange program.
The decision for Fleming was only the beginning of a long and complicated process. His Fulbright application was due in October of 2011, after which he interviewed with a group of professors from his university. Then, his application was sent to New York City, where a group of finalists was selected by the Fulbright Program. In the end, it was the host country that selected the scholars, and Fleming found out that he was chosen by representatives from Vietnam on May 19, the day before he sat for his Medical College Admission Test.
“I spent a year studying in Australia, traveled throughout Europe, and I really wanted to do the Fulbright the right way — which was getting away from my comfortable, Western, English-speaking world,” he said. “I wanted to go someplace with a different viewpoint of my own.”
Starting this month, Fleming will spend nine months in Cao Lãnh, in southern Vietnam, teaching English to students attending Eong Chap Community College.
“Knowing all of this science is great and wonderful, but I need to communicate complex and sometimes scary things to my patients,” he said about the importance of teaching English. “ I want to be a physician, which means I have to communicate.”
For Fleming, it’s an opportunity to do something different. But it’s also an opportunity to extend the research he did for his senior thesis, which focused on HIV, poverty and education in post-quake Haiti.
“What I really like is medical anthropology, my own little name for it,” he said. “How medicine and health outcomes are affected by political and economic decisions. Political and cultural issues are causing HIV/AIDS — it’s really being caused because people can’t afford the drugs, people can’t afford the education. We have to fix those first.”
According to Fleming, the trip is a chance for him to understand how society is being changed by all of these factors.
His dedication to his research is seen by his professors, especially Dr. Jeff Ashley, the associate professor of chemistry at Philadelphia University and Fleming’s research advisor.
“It’s not often an undergraduate student pushes his research advisor beyond his comfort zone, but it certainly was the case for me,” he said. “He'll serve as a superb model for his Vietnamese students and colleagues. I also expect the experience to imprint incredibly long-lasting memories on Tyler.”
