Geri Spotlight: Lingsheng Li and Sammy McGowan

Interviewed by Sammy McGowan over Zoom.

About Lingsheng’s Role/Ongoing Projects
Lingsheng is currently preparing a GEMSTAR application to better understand the experiences of caregivers and surrogate decision-makers for Chinese-speaking older adults. This project allows her to give back to her community and to help honor the people who raised her, including her grandparents. She is focused on improving health equity for people whose voices are not always heard in research.

Her favorite aspect of her position is working with the many different mentors within the division. Each brings in their own perspective about how to improve the health and well-being of underrepresented older adults.

What is a professional goal you would like to accomplish by the end of this year?
Lingsheng's goal is to learn how to incorporate visual arts and drawing into the research process!

More about Lingsheng
What’s one “fun fact” about you that not many people know? (e.g., hidden talent)
Lingsheng is a huge fan of cookbooks and podcasts on cookbooks. For example, she listens to "Salt and Spine" while cooking and is always plotting the next cookbook she is going to buy.

What are you happiest doing in your free time?
Lingsheng loves going to cafés to people-watch. She always brings her sketchbook and sits and sketches. It's a way for her to observe, be in her element, and be present. She typically will sketch plants or books, a small pastry, or cup of coffee - really anything that's in front of her.  

What is the best advice you've ever heard?
While experiencing burnout during residency, her mentor told her, "Be kind to yourself". Simple, but something we often forget.

Who is someone you admire, and why?
She really admires Grace Young. She is referred to as the stir-fry guru. She is a fantastic cookbook author and activist. She does a lot of public education and advocacy for Chinatowns across the US, especially in the setting of the pandemic and the racism that these communities experience.

What are some causes you care about?
Lingsheng cares about dismantling racism and discrimination against marginalized communities, especially older adults who live in social isolation.

What would your back-up career be?
Lingsheng would be a children's book author!

Interviewed by Lingsheng Li over Zoom.​​​​​​​

About Sammy’s Role/Ongoing Projects
Sammy is studying the impact of loneliness on critical illness recovery and examining racial and language disparities in restraint use in the ICU. He wants to learn more about how disparities in care can lead to actionable and modifiable components of care with the ultimate goal of improving equity for all. This helps improve health equity for older adults whose voices are often neglected in research

He really loves the multidisciplinary nature of the division, where different people bring in diverse expertise to problem solve.

What is a professional goal you would like to accomplish by the end of this year?
Sammy is aiming to apply for his first career development award in addition to becoming more proficient in STATA so that he can do his own coding for data analysis.

More about Sammy
What’s one “fun fact” about you that not many people know? (e.g., hidden talent)
When he was in high school, Sammy auditioned for the male lead in High School musical! 

What are you happiest doing in your free time?
Sammy loves to surf! An ideal weekend is taking his family to Pacifica, spending the morning surfing, and getting brunch afterward.

What is the best advice you've ever heard?
When it comes to writing, "say what you mean" and don't over-complicate it.

Who is someone you admire, and why?
Sammy's role model has always been his dad, who is a well-loved and respected pulmonologist and the reason why Sammy went into Pulmonary & Critical Care.

What are some causes you care about?
Sammy is passionate about reducing disparities in care, lifting the voices that research doesn't always amplify, thinking about healthcare as a human right, and incorporating advocacy into our work as physician-scientists.

What would your back-up career be?
Sammy's dream would be to star in a Stephen Sondheim musical on Broadway.