Annual Pub 2023 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 57
SUMMER 2023 MAGAZINE
I
f you were just aware of what Jabre Millon, MD, has
accomplished over the last 昀ve years, it wouldn9t seem
at all off-base to assume he’s one of those young men
whose life has always been on an upward trajectory.
Out of more than a thousand applicants, he was one of
60 students accepted to the class of 2023 at the Kirk
Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV; he became a member
of the national MyMentor team, coaching pre-med students
on how to navigate admission to medical school; and he was
elected to Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), the national medical
honor society.
Most recently, Dr. Millon, who just graduated in May, was elected
earlier this year to the national board of directors of AOA, the
only medical student elected to the 12-member physician board
(there are two resident physicians on the board).
“His becoming a member of the national board was an
extraordinary honor,” said Gary Shen, MD, associate dean
of undergraduate education at the medical school. “It really
speaks to Jabre’s accomplishments. He’s represented UNLV on
a national stage. I think it will inspire others to do great things
even though we are a small, new school.”
Yes, at first blush, Dr. Millon, who’s now looking forward
to his graduate medical education residency in integrated
interventional radiology, is an example of one of those pure
onward and upward stories, where good fortune follows in a
straight line from hard work and a focused, positive mindset.
But Dr. Millon admits he almost didn’t get to this time and
place, that psychic pain nearly killed his chances of becoming
a physician, a dream he’s held from the age of 11.
It’s part of his life story that he doesn’t want left out.
“I’m hoping I can help people realize that they don’t have to be
de昀ned by the past … that they are able to make decisions and
overcome obstacles … that they must not be afraid to reach
out for help.”
In 2011, while Dr. Millon was a senior in high school, his father,
long entangled in a domestic situation, killed Jabre’s stepmom
and her boyfriend. Police killed his father when he refused
to drop his weapon. Not surprisingly, heavy media attention
resulted.
“It was just one month before my high school graduation … I
lost the desire to attend school and participate in athletics …
I no longer had the desire to do much of anything. I was in a
world of pain. It was heartbreaking to know someone I loved
so dearly could do something so heinous.”
University of La Verne, which was close to his California home,
he did so by compartmentalizing his emotions, by shutting
people out.
That behavior, however, took its toll. When he transferred to the
University of Southern California (USC), he found he couldn’t
study or focus. His personal relationships suffered. Doing it
alone, living inside his own head where he worried incessantly
about how people would feel about him if they knew what had
happened in his family, had caused paralyzing stress.
“I was at a crossroads. The suffering was going to consume
me, or I was going to take control of my life. I decided to seek
out guidance.”
He spoke to a sports psychologist working with the USC track
team where he was a varsity athlete in both the long jump and
triple jump. It was the beginning of Dr. Millon’s healing process.
Getting professional help, which researchers say is often more
di٠恩cult for men to do because they see it as unmanly, took a
weight off his shoulders. He began to understand he needed to
talk through his form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
that there is a healing power in talking about your feelings with
others.
“I learned to accept what happened … I couldn’t let it consume
me … I realized I had to get it off my chest.”
As he worked through his own problems, Dr. Millon volunteered
at hospitals, which further fueled his desire to become a
physician.
Today, he says he has found medical school challenging, but
largely a joy and rewarding.
