About Me

I am a Stanford-trained anesthesiologist, bestselling author, and a physician essay coach. In medical school, I experienced the life-changing power of a high impact personal statement. Now, as an essay strategist and coach, my goal is to unlock that potential in my clients.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine matching at Stanford. I was planning to stay for my anesthesia residency at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, where I attended medical school.

However, my husband wanted to live on the West Coast. I was aghast, “Do you realize how difficult it will be for me to match in California as a non-California resident? Especially with my average scores?” Nevertheless, I agreed to try against unfavorable odds:

• My USMLE Step score was right at the cutoff for the most competitive anesthesia residencies.

• My grades were above average, but did not meet the cutoff for AOA (medical honor society that some programs use to screen and rank applicants).

• I had some research experience but no major publications.

• I do not have any physicians in my family, so all advice was from faculty mentors.

After working on my personal statement draft for two months, I shared a copy with my chairman of anesthesia. He said, “I’ve seen this same boring essay a thousand times and couldn’t make it past your first paragraph. You have to make it personal.”

In my revision, I radically changed my approach and went “all in” on his advice. Despite my discomfort with sharing such intimate stories with my chair, he read the revision and said, “This is perfect. You can submit.”

After ERAS opened, interview invitations arrived from Stanford, all three Harvard programs, UCSF, UCLA, Yale, Columbia, Duke, UPenn, University of Washington, Dartmouth, OHSU, Emory, NYU, Mount Sinai, and Johns Hopkins.

Some of you may think that’s where the story ends: “Great. So a good personal statement got her the interview.” However, my personal statement heavily influenced my interviews. Many of my interviews didn’t start with the usual questions like:

• “Tell me about yourself.”

• “Why do you want to become an anesthesiologist?”

• “Why do you want to train here?”

Instead, my interviewers started by saying, “I want to tell you my story.” They recognized a part of themselves in my stories, which inspired them to share their stories with me. Immediately, the traditional interview hierarchy evolved into an opportunity for human connection. By the end of my interview, I felt emotionally connected and bonded to my interviewers, like I would feel with friends.

If you are able to write a strong personal statement that sets you up for resonant interviews, you will have a key unfair advantage. To your interviewers, you will be someone they admire, respect, trust, and want to mentor. 

Let's take a peek behind the scenes so you can understand how a rank order list is built. After the interviews, the residency selection committee will convene and decide your rank order list position. I want your interviewers to share your inspiring stories so that the entire committee can “meet” you in their minds and imagine how you will contribute to their program.

The week prior to rank order list submission, programs called and emailed me saying that I was ranked to match. On Match Day, I matched at my first choice, Stanford anesthesia.

Having experienced the impact of my personal statement on my life trajectory, I excitedly shared my strategies with medical students rotating with me on their anesthesia rotation. In my first year as an assistant professor of anesthesia, three of my medical students matched at Harvard MGH - two in anesthesia and one in orthopedic surgery. My passion project grew into a business and I now help residency applicants from around the world achieve their dreams.

Let’s work together to build a high yield, high impact personal statement. My goal is to set you up for Match Day success.

Medical Training

• M.D. from Stony Brook

• Internal Medicine Internship at Stanford

• Anesthesia Residency at Stanford

• Simulation and Medical Education Fellowship at Stanford

Teaching Awards

• Stanford Medicine Arnold P. Gold Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award

• Stanford Anesthesia Senior Resident Teaching Scholar

• Stanford Anesthesia Resident of the Year

• Dartmouth Anesthesia Teacher of the Year

• Dartmouth Medicine Alpha Omega Alpha for Excellence in Teaching

Training in Medical Education

• Crisis Simulation Instructor Training at the Harvard Center for Medical Simulation

• Medical Education Workshops at the Stanford Faculty Development Center

• Communications Consultant at Northern California Kaiser Permanente

Bestselling Author on Amazon for Medical Books

Tell Your Story: How to Write a Residency Personal Statement that Gets Interviews. Read it here.

Book Chapter:

• Wen, L., & Trockel, M. (2019). Mindfulness. The Art and Science of Physician Wellbeing: A Handbook for Physicians and Trainees, 195-208.

Medical Prose:

• Essay on organ procurement in JAMA’s creative writing section “A Piece of My Mind.”

• Public reading of my essay for the Stanford Medicine Pegasus Writers Group.

Peer Reviewed Publications:

• Wen, L., & Schroeck, H. (2026). Crisis resource management in nonoperating room anesthesia. Current Opinion in Anesthesiology, 10-1097.

• Wen, L. Y. (2025). Management of SGLT2i-associated perioperative ketoacidosis (SAPKA)/Euglycemic Diabetic Ketoacidosis (EDKA). Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, 105, 111854.

• Schroeck, H., Hatton, B., Martinez-Camblor, P., Whitty, M. A., Wen, L., & Taenzer, A. H. (2025). Effect of interprofessional crisis simulation training in a non-operating room anesthesia setting on team coordination: a mixed methods study. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 51(2), 115-125.

• Schroeck, H., Whitty, M. A., Hatton, B., Martinez-Camblor, P., Wen, L., & Taenzer, A. H. (2024). Team relations and role perceptions during anesthesia crisis management in magnetic-resonance imaging settings: a mixed methods exploration. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 50(5), 308-317.

• Trockel, M. T., Menon, N. K., Makowski, M. S., Wen, L. Y., Roberts, R., Bohman, B. D., & Shanafelt, T. D. (2023, January). Impact: evaluation of a controlled organizational intervention using influential peers to promote professional fulfillment. In Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Vol. 98, No. 1, pp. 75-87).

• Tanaka, P., Adriano, A., Ngai, L., Park, Y. S., Marty, A., Wakatsuki, S., Brun, C., Harrison, K., Bushell, E., Thomsen, J., Wen, L., Painter, C., Chen, M., Macario, A. (2018). Development of an objective structured clinical examination using the American Board of Anesthesiology content outline for the objective structured clinical examination component of the APPLIED certification examination. A&A Practice, 11(7), 193-197.

• Wen, L. Y., & Howard, S. K. (2017). Perioperative ACLS/cognitive aids in resuscitation. International Anesthesiology Clinics, 55(3), 4-18.

• Wen, L., Sweeney, T. E., Welton, L., Trockel, M., & Katznelson, L. (2017). Encouraging mindfulness in medical house staff via smartphone app: a pilot study. Academic psychiatry, 41, 646-650.

• Wen, L. Y., & Howard, S. K. (2014). Value of expert systems, quick reference guides and other cognitive aids. Current Opinion in Anesthesiology, 27(6), 643-648.

• Carvalho, B., Hilton, G., Wen, L., & Weiniger, C. F. (2014). Prospective longitudinal cohort questionnaire assessment of labouring women's preference both pre-and post-delivery for either reduced pain intensity for a longer duration or greater pain intensity for a shorter duration. British journal of anaesthesia, 113(3), 468-473.

• Wen, L., Haddad, M., Fernandez, I., Espinoza, G., Ruiz, C., Neyra, E., Bustamante, B., Rojas, R. (2011). Antifungal activity of four plants used in peruvian traditional medicine: isolation of the active principle of Psidium acutangulum. Revista de la Sociedad Quimica del Peru, 77(3), 199-204.