EPISODE 5: vALIA gREGORY

may 7, 2024

Interview by Erica Thomas

Photo by Ivan Dominguez

Edited by Erica Thomas and Michael Fortunato

Alright, so I guess we’ll start from the top…

My name is Valia Gregory. I’m 24 years old… 

[both laugh] But it isn’t actually Valia Gregory.

You’re right - it isn’t. My full name is Vasiliki, which is Greek. It’s kind of the girl version of the name Basil, and it basically means “royal.”

When did you start going by Valia?

Honestly, since forever. My parents decided when I was born that I would be Valia. My birth certificate says Vasiliki, but growing up, it was often Valia on paper. Like on attendance sheets for school and stuff. It definitely became a problem when I was applying to college and things like that. Kind of like when a patient has two medical record numbers for some reason. 

How did your parents meet?

So my dad is from New York and my mom’s from California. When they were younger, they both did Greek folk dancing and there’s always little contests and meetings going on for that. My dad’s dance group from New York ended up visiting California for an event and it turned out that some of the people from his group knew some of the people in my mom’s dance group and they kind of got set up [laughs]. I don’t think either of them were actually interested in meeting anyone at the time, but I guess it worked out anyway. Classic love story. Eventually my mom moved to New York. My dad’s a meteorologist and his job has always been rooted here.

Hold up - your dad’s a meteorologist?

Yup! He’s on TV every night. He’s definitely got some fans too! I would say a not insignificant social media following. 

What was that like growing up? Did you get to know when the snow days were coming before the rest of us did?

It's funny because it's always been kind of a normal thing for me, if that makes sense. Like still to this day, I have trouble processing that it's not a normal thing for everybody else. Seeing him on TV and taking trips to the station was just a regular part of growing up for me. When we were much smaller, I remember my dad would sometimes hide me and my sisters under the anchor desk and we’d pop up while they were on the air as a surprise. That was when we were much smaller and cuter. People had funny reactions to it. Sometimes when there was supposed to be a snow day and it ended up not snowing, we’d show up to school and people were like, “Yeah your dad was so right about the weather, huh? Some forecast.” And we were just like, “We play no part in this.” [laughs]. 

How much of your growing up was influenced by your family’s Greek background?

I was very lucky because our background was something that was really important to both of my parents. We have a lot of family in Greece and my parents wanted us to be able to communicate with them. So we grew up going to Greek school in the evenings and weekends. We did a lot of Greek dancing. We would go to Greece in the summers. I feel like even for me and my sisters, it’s definitely important to us too. I think it's valuable to have a sense of that culture, that identity, right? Like something, amongst many other things, that defines you. It’s definitely given me a lot of good memories to hang onto. Easter is a big thing for us that’s coming up soon. We roast this lamb outside on a spit at my cousins’ house every year. For Lent, we usually give up meat so by the time Easter comes around, the day is just filled with meat. So this lamb just sits there roasting outside in the yard all day. It tastes so incredibly good when it’s done. 

What were you like as a kid?

What was I like? I was very hyperactive. I was a gymnast all the way up till the end of high school. I was super skinny. Very muscular and very skinny. I have two sisters and I’m the middle child and I definitely had middle child energy and had to channel it somewhere. When I was a toddler, my parents sent me to preschool which was like, half the day. But that just wasn’t enough for me - I needed more than that. Like a puppy that constantly had the zoomies. So they put me in a lot of different things and gymnastics just kind of stuck. I started when I was about three years old I think. 

That’s like the story of every Olympic gymnast out there.

I know, right? I quit at the end of senior year of high school. Honestly, I do feel that if I had really grinded, I might have been able to go to a D3 school. But at that point, I realized I wanted to try new things. 

What was your favorite event?

Probably vault. I was the best at that. I was never really, like, a delicate athlete. I wouldn’t say I had that kind of grace that lets people excel on beam or floor. Vault was just, you know, you run really fast at something and it’s very crude in that way. And it’s also over really quickly. I was really good at it though. It’s definitely scary and can be really dangerous. I broke my foot once landing wrong. But that happens. You heal up and you come back and you do it again, right?

…Sure [laughs]. Was it a difficult decision for you at the end of high school to close the door on something you’ve been doing basically your whole life?

I mean honestly, I was kind of burnt out at that point. I felt like my body was really tired. I had broken my ankle that year and I was just ready to move on in a way. Gymnastics has definitely given me a lot. I’ll always be grateful to have had that opportunity growing up. But I think I made the right decision at the time and I was happy to be able to choose to close that chapter on my own terms. I can still do the occasional backflip on command. It’s a cool party trick. 

Oh god. Can you do one right now?

[laughs] I’m going to save it for when I have a bigger audience. The hype helps bring it out. 

Fair enough. Besides gymnastics, what was your high school experience like?

Oh my gosh. I never knew the term “gunner” until much later in life, but I was a gunner, 100%.

Why is that? Where did that come from?

Honestly, I have no clue. I never had any external pressure from my family or anything to be something great or do something great. My parents were supportive and proud of anything I did but I was never pushed to do anything that I wasn’t comfortable with or didn’t want to do. I think I was mostly internally motivated for some reason. Even now, I just love things being a challenge and I love taking on a challenge. There’s definitely a kind of rush there. 

What drew you to medicine?

Nobody in my family is in healthcare but for some reason, from a really young age, I was just drawn to medicine. There was just some fascination I had with it. When I was maybe 11, my dad had this rash and he was like, “Yeah, I don’t know what this thing is.” And I was like, “That’s ringworm.” And he went to the doctor and they were like, “Yeah, you have ringworm, here’s some cream.” I just always had all these questions about the body and was always just like, “What is that? Let me look that up. Oh, let me see this and that.” There was always this kind of inquisitive mindset I had. I guess it was around sophomore or junior year of high school when I knew for sure that I was going to be pre-med and really started to, kind of, own the idea of it. Of being a physician. And then getting to med school now. It just feels right, you know? Like trying on a nice pair of pants that fits perfectly.  

I like that. Did you ever have one of those fantasy careers as a kid? Like a rock star or professional athlete?

Oh 100%. I’m happy to report that I actually did my fantasy career! My dream job as a kid was to be a barista. I don’t know why, but I always just really liked coffee from a young age. I was obsessed with it. So for a year in college, I got to work as a barista in one of the college cafes. 

How was that?

It was everything I dreamed of and more! [laughs] It was so awesome. I think it was even more special because I knew that it wasn’t going to be my forever thing, you know? So I kind of cherished it that much more. It was amazing. I loved it. 

I have this vision of you as a surgeon in like, ten years, and moonlighting as a barista. 

[laughs] For sure. I’ll do my outpatient visits in the coffee shop. That would be incredible. 

So you graduate high school and go to the West Coast, to UCLA, for college. Why UCLA?

That's a good question. So I was choosing between Boston College and UCLA and Boston had so many things that were comfortable. A lot of people from my high school went there. It wasn't that far from home. My cousin went there. There was so much about it that would have made it such an easy transition. And I was pretty much set to go there. I had applied to the UC schools as a last minute thing, mostly to appease my grandma who lives there. I didn’t really give it a second thought after that. One day, somebody was like, “Oh the UCLA decisions are out - did you check?” And I logged into the portal and saw the “Congratulations, you’re a Bruin.” Even then, I remember not really thinking anything of it. But at some point, we decided that I should go out there and at least see it once. After we saw the campus, that was it. I fell in love with it and decided I was definitely going there. My mom cried a bunch. 

Were you scared at all?

Terrified. But also excited. It was kind of a mix of emotions because it was a very big, very new thing. It was very far from home and, while I had family in Northern California, LA was quite far from them. I had no real ties to the area. But at the same time, I felt like it was really good for me to have something that was my own. And a big change like that is where the growth happens, right? Growth happens when you leave your comfort zone. I don't think I would have grown as much as a person and become as independent as I am now if I hadn't done that. 

I hear that you were a D1 athlete. 

[laughs] I guess you could say that. But definitely “D1” in quotes. I walked onto the rowing team as a coxswain. I definitely did not race in anything that was even remotely important. But I had a lot of fun doing it. 

Can you explain what a coxswain is for the readers that don’t know?

If you’ve ever seen rowing, it’s the person that sits at the front facing the rest of the team. They’re basically in charge of steering the boat and coordinating the rhythm of the rowers. Coxing is definitely something where you have to take ownership of your actions and you have to be a leader and be encouraging and positive for your team. I really liked it a lot and stuck with it all four years. Being on that team was a very defining part of college for me. I think in big schools, it’s super easy to get lost. You have to have some kind of community, whether that’s like a sorority or a club. Where you can find your people. For me, it was definitely the rowing team. I was around those girls so much. A few of us lived together for several years. So yeah, that’s kind of just where I found my crew. Literally. 

What was your favorite class that you took in college?

Oh my gosh. Let’s see. So I was a Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology major, but I was also a Spanish and Linguistics major. Honestly, of all the classes I took, I thought the linguistics ones were the hardest. I didn’t really know much about it beforehand but they were super interesting classes. It was also the only time where I wasn’t in, like, the science part of campus. I had great mentors and yeah, it was just really interesting stuff. But difficult too. Linguistics is no joke. No joke at all. 

Do you speak any other languages?

I took Mandarin from like sixth grade to senior year of high school. I was pretty proficient at some point. I don’t really get the opportunity to use it a lot now, but I still feel like I have a decent handle on it. 

What kind of exposure did you get to medicine before you came to medical school?

I graduated from UCLA in 2021 and didn’t take any gap years so I came straight here. While in college, I got to work as an EMT and an ER tech. 

What’s it like driving an ambulance?

It’s kind of what you could imagine driving an ice cream truck to be. It’s very boxy. Being an EMT was super cool and was also one of my dream jobs. But then I realized that I had to drive and, Iisten, at that point, I could barely drive for five minutes. So then it was like, not quite the dream [laughs]. But I got used to it and I got a lot better at driving because of that. It was fun. You’d get to run red lights and have all your different sirens and stuff. Definitely quite an experience. 

What surprised you the most about being an EMT?

Okay, it actually has nothing to do with the job itself. But I worked at a station and I was the only woman there, which was a very interesting experience. I grew up in a house with two sisters. I went to college and I was on a women’s sports team with female roommates. So this was new for me. I’ve never quite seen anything like it. I remember when I was starting out, all the guys were super polite and treading carefully around me. But we all got comfortable with each other eventually. It was like a little family, you know? We basically lived at our station; it was a small house that we took care of. I remember realizing that none of them had much cleaning experience before. And so there were times where I was just like, “Guys, what are we doing here?” Just like, “Please take this broom and try it out.” At the same time, if there was something wrong with the ambulance for example, I would always ask, “Can someone come take a look at this?” It was kind of nice to see the things that we could learn from each other. But yeah, that’s probably what surprised me the most about the experience.

I know you want to be a surgeon, but did you ever consider emergency medicine at any point?

I always thought that I was going to do emergency medicine when I came into med school. There was a part of me that was intrigued by surgery though. Working as an EMT, I transported a lot of patients that were hurt in traumas, gunshots, and the like. We’d stabilize them enough and get them to the ED. And in the ED, oh my gosh, they would do so many things. But at the end of it, the patients get rushed up to the OR. And I was always like, “Dang, I really wish I could see that.” I just always wondered what it was like in there. 

So when did you decide on surgery officially? 

During the first year of medical school. My dad knows one of the cardiac surgeons at WMC, and I had actually tried to shadow him once in high school. I showed up, got my scrubs on and everything but as soon as I was about to walk in, someone stopped me and told me high school students couldn’t be in there. So I got the boot [laughs]. When I got to med school at NYMC, my dad was like, “Oh, I should let him know you're here.” And I was like, “Why? I have no interest in what he does.” Like that's crazy. And then one day, the surgeon called me on the phone and told me, “You should really come check out what I do. You never know. Give it a try. Come to my OR and see if you like it.” And then I went to one of his cases - I think this was January of first year. I remember after the surgery started thinking that about 45 minutes had passed and then looking at the clock and realizing almost four hours had gone by.  It was one of those moments where time just kind of stopped. I was truly enraptured by what he was doing. It was so technically complex and one of the coolest things I’d ever seen. I continued to shadow him and tried to watch a case every week. That really solidified my interest in CT surgery. 

Would you say it was love at first sight with CT surgery? 

Honestly, probably yeah. I think when I was in that OR for the first time, I realized that all of this energy that I've had my whole life, since I was a kid, could just be channeled into something and that something could be surgery. It was just so intense. I feel like I immediately became so passionate about it and it truly has kept me motivated during med school. 

How do you handle the fact that you’re probably going to be training for a long time and have a really intense and busy career life? 

It’s definitely something that I’ve thought about and discussed with people. I’ve definitely had people come up to me and ask, “Well, how are you gonna have a family. How are you gonna have time to do this and that?” I think, for me, I’m not sure what the future has in store for me. Truthfully, I don’t think anyone really knows how life is going to unfold for any of us. I always felt like it made more sense to make sure I'm doing something with my career that I find the most fulfilling. My aspirations, professionally, to be a surgeon, to be someone who can really touch a lot of people, I don’t think should be sidelined because of norms or expectations. As far as having a really busy career, I don’t know. I feel like I have this thing where I want to show up to school or work or wherever and I want to work extremely hard. I’ve always had that intensity about myself. If anything, I feel like it’s ramped up as I’ve gotten older. 

Do you feel like other people have a hard time understanding that? 

Sometimes. Not all the time. But definitely sometimes. I remember that CT surgeon who I shadowed first year telling me, “If you’re really into this, I’m going to tell you right now - people will not understand you. A lot of people won’t understand your choices and they won’t understand why it’s important to you.” But the important thing is that it’s important to you, right? Your priorities are your priorities because you make them one. To me, this is just what I find the most fulfilling. I do believe in such a thing as a calling. Like I don’t think it was an accident that I got to experience CT surgery as an M1. I was definitely searching for that thing in med school where it was like, “Oh, that’s exactly what I want. That’s what I’m seeking.” And I think I found it. 

Tell me about your piloting.  

[laughs] Yeah, I definitely don’t fly as much at the moment. I wish I did. My dad is a pilot. Side story - when he and my mom got married, for their honeymoon, they flew across the country and made, like, little pit stops everywhere.  Very cute stuff. Anyway, my dad started giving me flying lessons at some point. It’s really very cool. I think there’s a lot of parallels between flying a plane and medicine. For example, my dad always tells his students that if anything is going wrong with the plane, like the engine’s failing or this or that - just fly the plane. Just fly the plane. Get it safely to the ground but just fly it. That’s all you have to do. And I feel like in this field if things are going haywire, at the end of the day, you just need to do your medicine. Like if there’s a rapid response, you know what needs to be done. Like get the oxygen, do your ABCs. At the end of the day, you just got to fly the plane. 

What’s a goal that you have that's not medicine or career related?

Is it cliche to say have a family? I think, for me, that can look a lot of different ways and I’m open to whatever life throws at me and however things end up panning out. But yeah, I think I’d really like to create a family. I have a few goals. I also really want to run a marathon. Hold on, I actually have a running bucket list. Let me pull it out…So running a marathon…Learn sign language…This one’s really silly - learn how to juggle! And go on a hot air balloon ride. 

If you could back and tell younger Valia one thing, what would you tell her?

That’s it’s all going to work out. You know how you’re always stressing about anything and everything as a teen? I would tell younger me that she’s going to find her place, she’s going to have friends and people she loves, and she’s going to get to do the things she loves. Life is going to get pretty good. I definitely have this belief in a higher power out there. I don’t think things happen by accident. So I would tell myself to trust that things are going to work out exactly the way that they’re supposed to. 

Do you have a funny story for the audience before we end?

Oh sure. So the first rotation I had third year was internal medicine and I started in the outpatient clinic with one of the attendings. I was obviously terrified and a nervous wreck going in. Anyway, I was there and the attending goes, “You know, this next patient is really cool. They have dextrocardia.” So we walk in the room together and I’m just rigid and stressed out in there. The attending asked me to do a physical exam on the patient and I walk over and I’m just on autopilot at that point. I take out my steth and stuff and I go and listen like we were taught - all 4 auscultation points, and hear nothing. And then the doctor’s like, “Did you hear anything?” And I shakily nod and say, “Yes.” And she goes, “For the heart that’s on the right side of the chest?” I was so in my head that I forgot, in the 5 minutes we’d been in the room, that the patient had dextrocardia. I was so embarrassed, but we had a good laugh about it, even the patient. At the end of the day, the attending shook my hand and told me, “You did it. You survived your first day of rotations. It’s all uphill from here.” And she was right. 

Contact Valia at vgregory@student.nymc.edu.

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