so you know that game that we all play
we’re in a big group lots of new people
and you’re all expected to go around and
everybody has to say their name and one
interesting fact about themselves yes
with that game I hate that game but it’s
not supposed to be a competition right
but then there’s always that one guy in
the group who has to one-up everybody
else we know that guy okay so it turns
out that I’m that guy but I don’t mean
to be that guy it just kind of sort of
always works out that way I’ll show you
what I mean so a couple of years ago I
graduated from medical school from right
here in st. Louis and before starting
residency I got a research opportunity
at Harvard yeah shout out to Harvard and
I moved to Boston I got to meet the
whole team all at once for the first
time and they wanted to play that game
so now it’s my turn hi my name is Jeremy
and an interesting fact about me is that
while in medical school I actually took
a year off and I convinced the city’s
transit authority to give me a bus for
free and I turned it into a grocery
store to help families who are
struggling to have basic access to
healthy affordable food right but then I
start to read the faces of the people in
the room and I realized that like half
of them just don’t get it and then the
other half just don’t believe me but
it’s okay because I’m prepared for this
and I take out my phone and I show them
pictures
but at this point I’m feeling really bad
for Carl
so Carl’s also new to the department and
his interesting fact is that him and a
couple of buddies climbed Mount
Kilimanjaro last year but no one cares
because they’re all still passing around
the phone because this person hasn’t
seen the pictures yet so okay it does
feel really good sometimes to be that
guy but I need you to understand how and
most importantly why I had to become
that guy I was born and raised in
Houston Texas the youngest of three kids
and growing up my brother was a slob
okay so that’s harsh because I know he’s
gonna watch this back later and give me
a hard time at Christmas so let me try
this
he found it challenging to clean up
after himself yeah that’s better somehow
right and my parents were very strict
about keeping the house clean especially
my mom in our house it didn’t matter
that your brother made that mess didn’t
matter that it’s not your fault you see
something out of place it’s your
responsibility to fix it now as a kid I
did not appreciate learning at that
lesson but as an adult and as I reflect
back on it I realized that something
profound in that lesson and it stayed
with me all this time it’s informed so
much about how I see my role in the
world today it’s a big part of why I
want to be a doctor in the first place
people have problems and you get to fix
them so I was really excited when it
came time to interview for medical
schools but then I got really nervous
when I got an interview offer at st.
Louis
because my parents and I we’d read all
but when I think about it the real
reason that I came here to st. Louis for
medical school is because I felt
challenged to thinking back to my
interview was with one of the medical
schools Dean’s and I remember the very
last question that he asked me was
Jeremy what kind of doctor do you want
to be and I told him that I want to be a
pediatric plastic surgeon I want to work
with kids were born with all kinds of
disfiguring conditions like cleft lips
and cleft palates because I think that
there’s something beautiful something
poetic even about restoring a child’s
smile but then I told him that after
medical school and and residency
training I’m getting on a plane and I’m
packing up and I’m moving to South
America because I want to work with some
of the world’s most vulnerable people
now during the interview the the Dean
he’s he’s taking notes on this
evaluation form and he’s checking all
the right boxes I’m definitely getting
in and I can tell because I’m
surprisingly good at reading upside down
and and because spoiler alert I got in
but just then when I said that part
about wanting to be a surgeon in South
America to help vulnerable people the
mood in the room shifted and he got
quiet and he put down the pen he took
that evaluation for him and he turns it
over onto the back to the blank side of
the page and I started to get nervous
because I definitely said the wrong
a few moments go by and he picks the pin
back up and he starts to draw something
and as he does as he’s sketching he
starts to tell me a bit about himself
how he spent his whole life in San Luis
and he like me wanted to be a doctor to
help people especially those in the
margin especially vulnerable people and
by now he was finished sketching Jeremy
this is a map of st. Louis now he had to
tell me that that was a map because the
Dean is brilliant he is talented he’s
compassionate towards others but he is
not an artist it’s just not
but then he picks his pin back up one
more time he draws a line down the
center of this map
he says Jeremy I read your personal
statement I see you here today
and I believe what you say that you want
to help vulnerable people as a physician
but you don’t have to go to South
America to do it just come here to st.
Louis because there are no lack of great
issues to take on and there are few
people as vulnerable as the people who
live in this city especially the ones
who live north of this line and you know
what he is absolutely right there are
real issues here with crime and with
inequality with racism I thought to
myself when you’re a physician you’re
responding to a calling when you’re a
doctor you want to help what’s hurting
and fix what’s broken so what better
City to learn the art and the science of
medicine than in a city like Saint Louis
that’s hurting so I knew I had to come
here and I had to make a difference I
just didn’t know how
I first learned about food deserts back
in college senior year Markman avear is
a talented photographer and his work was
being featured at a gallery near campus
he called this most recent exhibit you
are what you eat
mark was documenting food access issues
hunger here in America but taking
pictures of the contents of people’s
refrigerators so early on through his
lens figuratively and quite literally I
got to see this problem for what it
really is a food desert is a community
where there are no grocery stores at
least for a mile or better and where the
majority people live at but often well
below the poverty line and unfortunately
when I got here st. Louis was home to 18
food deserts and when you live in one of
these communities and you don’t have a
grocery store where you live and you
don’t have transportation to get to one
nearby all because you don’t have enough
food enough money
you don’t eat healthy you don’t get to
you can’t afford to food insecurity food
injustice this was an issue that
frustrated me more than anything else
and I think that when you find something
that frustrates you you owe it to
yourself to figure out why in the midst
of trying to find that someone or that
group of someone’s who was not doing
something about this I thought back to
that lesson from when I was a kid and I
realized that I’m someone not doing
something about this so I used that
frustration of mine as motivation and I
put together a plan if people couldn’t
get to healthy food because it didn’t
exist where they lived well then I was
just gonna have to bring it to them
so I somehow convinced the vice
president of Metro to take a meeting
with me and I told him that he had to
give me a bus for free
because with it I was gonna strip away
the seating and the railings and in
their place install shelving and
refrigeration stocked with fresh fruits
vegetables meat dairy and staple goods
and I was gonna sell this at affordable
prices in every neighborhood that needed
it in all of those food deserts and I
did with a team of employees and
volunteers working tirelessly we were
dedicated and we made a difference in
this community but I told you I don’t
live in st. Louis anymore I live in
Boston shortly after taking the new job
I realized for lots of reasons I need to
leave the bus project behind and
honestly it’s the hardest decision I’ve
ever had to make but when you get a
calling you don’t get to quit I didn’t a
few months after settling into Boston I
got another calling and this time it
didn’t feel like a spiritual calling
from God this was like a like a literal
phone call for Metro because they still
have my cell phone number and they
called me and said that they want to
offer me an opportunity to support me to
develop a new chain of nonprofit grocery
stores headquarters here in this city in
st. Louis I could hire whoever I wanted
to I could call it whatever I wanted to
I just had to agree to one thing I had
to commit to selling healthy food at
affordable prices like yeah I can do
that I’ve already done it
so I did this time we took shipping
containers and we turned those into
grocery stores and when you think about
it and you strip away all the junk food
in the processed food at the grocery
store this is really all you need fresh
fruits vegetables meat dairy staple
goods from a whole host of local farmers
and community gardens sold directly in
and to communities to me the most a two
area transit stations here in the city
st. Louis we partnered with community
gardens to teach nutrition education to
everyday communities so they can learn
new lessons on eating healthily so
they’re making better food for their
families at home now I don’t know why
the photographer insisted that we all
hold on Apple like we’re on the set of
The Real Housewives just just did oh and
I bought a mail truck not kidding so
last month I flew in from Boston to
close a deal on a mail truck you may
have seen it in the parking lot because
I actually drove it here because with
the Linc market we have a real chance to
improve the quality of life for so many
people around food and with a mail truck
we get to deliver food to low-income
communities to help equal the balance
and also mail trucks are cool so for me
the bus was just the beginning but I
wonder what will it take for you to find
your beginning like me many of you are
not from st. Louis you’re from some
other cities some others state maybe but
you’re here now and there’s a word for
that transplant we’re all transplants
now I’m being taught to think like a
surgeon and in surgery when you
transplant something it means that
you’re taking something that’s living
and viable out of its own environment
and you’re putting it into a new
environment because you wanted to fix
what’s broken heal what’s hurting you’re
here now and you see these problems like
hunger like homelessness like inequality
like racism it’s your responsibility to
do something about it to use your time
and your talent and your treasure to
make a difference for another person so
what are you waiting for
please get to work
thank you
[Applause] you
we’re in a big group lots of new people
and you’re all expected to go around and
everybody has to say their name and one
interesting fact about themselves yes
with that game I hate that game but it’s
not supposed to be a competition right
but then there’s always that one guy in
the group who has to one-up everybody
else we know that guy okay so it turns
out that I’m that guy but I don’t mean
to be that guy it just kind of sort of
always works out that way I’ll show you
what I mean so a couple of years ago I
graduated from medical school from right
here in st. Louis and before starting
residency I got a research opportunity
at Harvard yeah shout out to Harvard and
I moved to Boston I got to meet the
whole team all at once for the first
time and they wanted to play that game
so now it’s my turn hi my name is Jeremy
and an interesting fact about me is that
while in medical school I actually took
a year off and I convinced the city’s
transit authority to give me a bus for
free and I turned it into a grocery
store to help families who are
struggling to have basic access to
healthy affordable food right but then I
start to read the faces of the people in
the room and I realized that like half
of them just don’t get it and then the
other half just don’t believe me but
it’s okay because I’m prepared for this
and I take out my phone and I show them
pictures
but at this point I’m feeling really bad
for Carl
so Carl’s also new to the department and
his interesting fact is that him and a
couple of buddies climbed Mount
Kilimanjaro last year but no one cares
because they’re all still passing around
the phone because this person hasn’t
seen the pictures yet so okay it does
feel really good sometimes to be that
guy but I need you to understand how and
most importantly why I had to become
that guy I was born and raised in
Houston Texas the youngest of three kids
and growing up my brother was a slob
okay so that’s harsh because I know he’s
gonna watch this back later and give me
a hard time at Christmas so let me try
this
he found it challenging to clean up
after himself yeah that’s better somehow
right and my parents were very strict
about keeping the house clean especially
my mom in our house it didn’t matter
that your brother made that mess didn’t
matter that it’s not your fault you see
something out of place it’s your
responsibility to fix it now as a kid I
did not appreciate learning at that
lesson but as an adult and as I reflect
back on it I realized that something
profound in that lesson and it stayed
with me all this time it’s informed so
much about how I see my role in the
world today it’s a big part of why I
want to be a doctor in the first place
people have problems and you get to fix
them so I was really excited when it
came time to interview for medical
schools but then I got really nervous
when I got an interview offer at st.
Louis
because my parents and I we’d read all
but when I think about it the real
reason that I came here to st. Louis for
medical school is because I felt
challenged to thinking back to my
interview was with one of the medical
schools Dean’s and I remember the very
last question that he asked me was
Jeremy what kind of doctor do you want
to be and I told him that I want to be a
pediatric plastic surgeon I want to work
with kids were born with all kinds of
disfiguring conditions like cleft lips
and cleft palates because I think that
there’s something beautiful something
poetic even about restoring a child’s
smile but then I told him that after
medical school and and residency
training I’m getting on a plane and I’m
packing up and I’m moving to South
America because I want to work with some
of the world’s most vulnerable people
now during the interview the the Dean
he’s he’s taking notes on this
evaluation form and he’s checking all
the right boxes I’m definitely getting
in and I can tell because I’m
surprisingly good at reading upside down
and and because spoiler alert I got in
but just then when I said that part
about wanting to be a surgeon in South
America to help vulnerable people the
mood in the room shifted and he got
quiet and he put down the pen he took
that evaluation for him and he turns it
over onto the back to the blank side of
the page and I started to get nervous
because I definitely said the wrong
a few moments go by and he picks the pin
back up and he starts to draw something
and as he does as he’s sketching he
starts to tell me a bit about himself
how he spent his whole life in San Luis
and he like me wanted to be a doctor to
help people especially those in the
margin especially vulnerable people and
by now he was finished sketching Jeremy
this is a map of st. Louis now he had to
tell me that that was a map because the
Dean is brilliant he is talented he’s
compassionate towards others but he is
not an artist it’s just not
but then he picks his pin back up one
more time he draws a line down the
center of this map
he says Jeremy I read your personal
statement I see you here today
and I believe what you say that you want
to help vulnerable people as a physician
but you don’t have to go to South
America to do it just come here to st.
Louis because there are no lack of great
issues to take on and there are few
people as vulnerable as the people who
live in this city especially the ones
who live north of this line and you know
what he is absolutely right there are
real issues here with crime and with
inequality with racism I thought to
myself when you’re a physician you’re
responding to a calling when you’re a
doctor you want to help what’s hurting
and fix what’s broken so what better
City to learn the art and the science of
medicine than in a city like Saint Louis
that’s hurting so I knew I had to come
here and I had to make a difference I
just didn’t know how
I first learned about food deserts back
in college senior year Markman avear is
a talented photographer and his work was
being featured at a gallery near campus
he called this most recent exhibit you
are what you eat
mark was documenting food access issues
hunger here in America but taking
pictures of the contents of people’s
refrigerators so early on through his
lens figuratively and quite literally I
got to see this problem for what it
really is a food desert is a community
where there are no grocery stores at
least for a mile or better and where the
majority people live at but often well
below the poverty line and unfortunately
when I got here st. Louis was home to 18
food deserts and when you live in one of
these communities and you don’t have a
grocery store where you live and you
don’t have transportation to get to one
nearby all because you don’t have enough
food enough money
you don’t eat healthy you don’t get to
you can’t afford to food insecurity food
injustice this was an issue that
frustrated me more than anything else
and I think that when you find something
that frustrates you you owe it to
yourself to figure out why in the midst
of trying to find that someone or that
group of someone’s who was not doing
something about this I thought back to
that lesson from when I was a kid and I
realized that I’m someone not doing
something about this so I used that
frustration of mine as motivation and I
put together a plan if people couldn’t
get to healthy food because it didn’t
exist where they lived well then I was
just gonna have to bring it to them
so I somehow convinced the vice
president of Metro to take a meeting
with me and I told him that he had to
give me a bus for free
because with it I was gonna strip away
the seating and the railings and in
their place install shelving and
refrigeration stocked with fresh fruits
vegetables meat dairy and staple goods
and I was gonna sell this at affordable
prices in every neighborhood that needed
it in all of those food deserts and I
did with a team of employees and
volunteers working tirelessly we were
dedicated and we made a difference in
this community but I told you I don’t
live in st. Louis anymore I live in
Boston shortly after taking the new job
I realized for lots of reasons I need to
leave the bus project behind and
honestly it’s the hardest decision I’ve
ever had to make but when you get a
calling you don’t get to quit I didn’t a
few months after settling into Boston I
got another calling and this time it
didn’t feel like a spiritual calling
from God this was like a like a literal
phone call for Metro because they still
have my cell phone number and they
called me and said that they want to
offer me an opportunity to support me to
develop a new chain of nonprofit grocery
stores headquarters here in this city in
st. Louis I could hire whoever I wanted
to I could call it whatever I wanted to
I just had to agree to one thing I had
to commit to selling healthy food at
affordable prices like yeah I can do
that I’ve already done it
so I did this time we took shipping
containers and we turned those into
grocery stores and when you think about
it and you strip away all the junk food
in the processed food at the grocery
store this is really all you need fresh
fruits vegetables meat dairy staple
goods from a whole host of local farmers
and community gardens sold directly in
and to communities to me the most a two
area transit stations here in the city
st. Louis we partnered with community
gardens to teach nutrition education to
everyday communities so they can learn
new lessons on eating healthily so
they’re making better food for their
families at home now I don’t know why
the photographer insisted that we all
hold on Apple like we’re on the set of
The Real Housewives just just did oh and
I bought a mail truck not kidding so
last month I flew in from Boston to
close a deal on a mail truck you may
have seen it in the parking lot because
I actually drove it here because with
the Linc market we have a real chance to
improve the quality of life for so many
people around food and with a mail truck
we get to deliver food to low-income
communities to help equal the balance
and also mail trucks are cool so for me
the bus was just the beginning but I
wonder what will it take for you to find
your beginning like me many of you are
not from st. Louis you’re from some
other cities some others state maybe but
you’re here now and there’s a word for
that transplant we’re all transplants
now I’m being taught to think like a
surgeon and in surgery when you
transplant something it means that
you’re taking something that’s living
and viable out of its own environment
and you’re putting it into a new
environment because you wanted to fix
what’s broken heal what’s hurting you’re
here now and you see these problems like
hunger like homelessness like inequality
like racism it’s your responsibility to
do something about it to use your time
and your talent and your treasure to
make a difference for another person so
what are you waiting for
please get to work
thank you
[Applause] you
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