Julpohng “JP” Vilai, MD, assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics | UNLV news release.
Julpohng “JP” Vilai, MD, assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics | UNLV news release.
An assistant professor at UNLV's Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine is reflecting on the events that influenced his decision to become a physician.
Julpohng "JP'' Vilai became a doctor almost by happenstance when he was working on meat spoilage research and took a microbiology class taught by Dr. James Jay, who saw his potential, according to a recent news release provided by University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
“He was a food microbiologist nearing the end of his career, yet his enthusiasm for what he taught was infectious. It was clear that he loved what he was doing,” Vilai said in the release. “He was like a grandfatherly figure who wanted his grandchildren to enjoy microbiology as much as he did. He was just so full of life and stories about his own life in science, which he said was made more challenging early on because African Americans lacked career opportunities.”
As an assistant professor at the school’s Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, Dr. Vilai was named the 2022 Department of Pediatrics Faculty Educator of the Year Award, a feat he attributes to his research with Dr. Jay.
“That work, coupled with lively discussions he led on topics that ranged from good and bad bacteria to how long you could have ground beef around without it being harmful served as a catalyst for my interest in medicine,” Vilai said. “I wanted to use what is learned in science to help people. Dr. Jay was a great teacher – great teachers inspire.”
According to Vilai, former Bishop Gorman High School valedictorian, he decided to specialize in pediatric medicine after working with Dr. Stuart Kaufman, who was Georgetown’s medical director of transplantation hepatology.
"Dr. Kaufman was so intense about taking care of his patients that he’d forget to eat. We frequently would become concerned about him and go out and get him something to eat. When he said patients come first, he meant it,” he said.
Vilai said that Kaufman was so endeared by the community that patients often had his home phone number. "He always looked out for families who came from disadvantaged communities, people who often faced obstacles to receiving adequate healthcare," he said.
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