Sho Yano says that even though the reference to the popular ’90s show “Doogie Howser M.D.” amuses him and makes him feel “pretty good,” he doesn’t want to known as a “whiz kid.”
“I kind of want to be the doctor,” he said. “I got through training early [but] my dream is to have a real achievement. Finding anything that would be helpful to people in general. Just knowing that I’m gonna help someone. That would be great.”
A doctor is just what Yano will become Saturday when the 21-year-old becomes the youngest student to attain an M.D. from the University of Chicago.
In 2000, when ABC News interviewed him as a 9-year-old college freshman at Loyola University, he said he eschewed the word “genius.”
“I’m not a genius. I’m gifted,” he told ABC News. “I got a gift from God and I may be accountable to God for using it wisely. Besides, I have to work for it.”
When he was 12 — having already graduated in three years from Loyola University — Yano entered the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine, participating in a program where students get both their doctorate and medical degrees.
He completed his first year of medical school, got his Ph.D. in molecular genetics and cell biology and then pursued the rest of medical school so that he’d be at least 18 when it came time to work with patients.
Yano was reading by the age of 2, writing by the age of 3 and composing music by 5. At the age of 8, he scored a 1,500 out of 1,600 on the SAT.
He said today that despite a lot of flak from psychologists, he was not socially stunted and that he appreciated his parents for allowing him to follow his own path and molding him into a well-rounded person.
“I was pretty sure that I could handle it,” he said of his academic career. “I thought it was safe for me. I wanted to try it. I was able to make that choice for myself. … I could’ve gone to school at a normal pace. I don’t think I would’ve been happy.”
Yano is now an accomplished pianist with a black belt in tae kwon do. He said for fun, he played the piano and worked with computer and electronic hardware, calling himself a “hand-radio enthusiast.”
He’s not the only prodigy in the family though. His only sister, Sayuri Yano, 15, is working on her second bachelor’s degree in violin performance at Johns Hopkins University.
Next up for Sho Yano? A five-year residency in pediatric neurology.
“I really don’t regret anything I did,” he told ABC News today. “I have a good idea of how kids and teenagers act. I’m not sure that I would’ve enjoyed that. I don’t think I missed all that much. ”
sources: abcnews.com
WIKIBIO
Yano reportedly was reading by age 2, writing by age 3, playing classical music on the piano at age 4 and composing by age 5. He went to theMirman School as a child. After scoring 1500 out of 1600 on the SAT at age 8, he graduated American School of Correspondence at age 9 then entered Loyola University Chicago also at age 9, graduating summa cum laude at age 12, and then entered the Pritzker School of Medicine at theUniversity of Chicago in the MSTP (Medical Scientist Training Program), which is designed for those seeking to earn an MD and PhD. Sho was awarded a PhD in molecular genetics and cell biology there in 2009, at the age of 18. He entered his second year of medical school at the University of Chicago in 2009, becoming at age 21 the youngest person to graduate with an MD from the University of Chicago.
According to him, he owes much of his success to his mother, who noticed his superior intellectual capabilities at an early age and helped encourage and motivate him through rigorous academic enrichment. His mother also homeschooled him through the 12th grade, saying she felt other students his age wouldn't be as interested in their studies. Sho's younger sister Sayuri (born 1996) also exhibits prodigious talents in both academic studies and music; she is, as of 2010, a graduate at Roosevelt University with a Bachelor's of Science in biology degree. She is currently a B.M student majoring in violin performance at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University.