Matthew Tiacharoen was born 1992, and raised in Southern California. His parents were immigrants but were his biggest influences throughout his life. His dad taught him how to be compassionate, really kind, and driven. His mom was supportive when she found out he wanted to pursue medical school. His grandma was also a big influence in his life as she was very human-focused and Tiacharoen remembered that his grandma would always invite homeless people over so she could feed them.
Tiacharoen went to UCLA for undergraduate studies. College for Tiacharoen was complicated since he had been working full time while in college. He wasn’t the most competitive in terms of his grades or test scores so he decided to take some time to work as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and worked as an EMT on a couple of Netflix shows like Ultimate Beastmaster as a medic for the athletes. He worked for music festivals like Coachella. He went to graduate school at UCLA where he met his wife Kim. She helped him secure his application for medical school and admittance to Michigan State. It normally takes four years undergrad, four years medical school, and three to five years of training to be an emergency medicine doctor. But Tiacharoen would finish his training in a year and a half!
When he was younger, Tiacharoen wanted to become a firefighter or a pilot but he realized that he really enjoyed working with people and doing what he could to make someone feel better. He loves doing volunteer work and giving people a sense of hope.
Describing the best parts of his job, Tiacharoen says, “One, you get to learn about how the human body works, two is learning how to treat it when things go bad, and three you become a teacher like ‘hey this is what\’s going on, I know it’s really scary but this is the treatment I’m gonna start you on and you should start feeling better,’ and there is nothing like giving them the sense of hope. And I have the means to help. I have the training, I have the knowledge and ultimately I can do something about someone\’s pain and that\’s the best part about the job.”
The hardest part for Tiacharoen is that it’s a long training process and he’s spent most of his 20’s studying. And as he says, “but at the end of the day, I realized that this training I\’m going through, it\’s not something that\’s like ‘oh learn this to do this’ it\’s more like, learn this to save someone\’s life.”Tiacharoen has had some stressful moments but there’s nothing like going back home, seeing his friends and family there to support him and encourage him through the whole training process. He has made some sacrifices, but in the end, it\’s all worth it.worth it.
