12-Year-Old Pursuing Medical Degree and Ph.D.

<Onumba.com: Posted January 3, 2004>

By Ike Mgbatogu

Sho Yano isn’t your typical 12-year old American kid.

He isn’t a buff of Harry Potter. For school, his mother packs his lunch in one paper bag and samples of “human skulls” and “bones” in another.

Sho became a music composer at 4 – and just a few months back, he stunningly turned down the queen of TV talk show – declining an invitation to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

But why is Sho poles apart from other kids?

He is amazingly brainy and has very little time for kiddy stuff. Oprah Winfrey show sounded good. But Sho rebuffed the talk show icon on the ground that he had no tangible and durable medical discovery to discuss with Oprah.

He wants to discover a treatment for cancer.

Sho goes the distance to downplay any portrayal of him as a “prodigy” or “little genius”. Yet the profound accomplishments credited to his brilliance at his young age leave us no other choice.

With an IQ of over 200, 12-year old Sho is a first year student at the University of Chicago Medical School where he is pursuing his medical degree and a Ph.D. The “human skulls” and “spinal bones” his mother packs for his school lunch are required for his human anatomy class.

Born in Portland Oregon to Korean parents, Sho started college at age 8 and graduated from Loyola University in three years.

His GPA? An incredible 3.96 on a 4.0 scale.

Because of his incredible gift, Sho is unrelentingly sought after for media appearances. He turned down Oprah Winfrey’s request to appear on her show, citing the need to have a “medical breakthrough” before appearing on TV shows.

At this stunning pace, Sho will graduate with his medical degree and a PhD at age 19, or at the most 20, just about 2 year shy of being the youngest person to graduate with a medical degree.

Had Sho not decided to pursue a PhD along with his medical degree, he would have been in line to corral that incredible record.

But Sho insists that this is not about records. For him, it’s about learning.

“…there’s a lot of stuff to know,” he says.

Ike Mgbatogu, MPA, is the principal writer and analyst for the Onumba.com - an on-line voice of the nation located in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. He can be reached at Ikeuzondu@onumba.com or (614) 848-7747.

Copyright © 2003 Ike Mgbatogu / Onumba communications. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.