On the early Saturday morning of October 25, a busy third-year surgery resident physician in training at the UMass Chan Medical School Dr. Klair Lubonja, SOM ’22, with not that much spare time, traveled back to UConn Health to speak with the youth of Connecticut enrolled in the Health Career Opportunity Programs. A health sciences education and career mentoring program Lubonja is a grateful beneficiary of.

“HCOP is vital to healthcare diversification efforts in Connecticut and beyond. It allows for exceptionally gifted learners, who otherwise might not have the means to pursue a career within healthcare, to not only explore opportunities within the field but also become leaders in the field,” says Lubonja. “I owe much of my success to the networking I was able to build because of my participation in the programs.”

Lubonja says his participation in the Health Career Opportunity Programs ultimately solidified his decision to enter medical school and medicine.

“I chose UConn School of Medicine because of the strong relationships I had built with the faculty and staff of the school in the years preceding matriculation,” he says. “HCOP offered a plethora of educational opportunities in the field of medicine leading to my decision to become a physician. UConn SOM fostered an environment where camaraderie, compassion, and collaboration were valued and encouraged.”

His involvement with HCOP, founded and led for decades by UConn Physician-Scientist Dr. Marja Hurley, spans all the way back to his first year in high school where he was a member of the High School Student Research Apprentice Program in 2010. Subsequently, Lubonja took part in the Pre-College Research Program in 2011, College Enrichment Program in 2012, and the Medical/Dental MCAT Preparatory Program in 2014, leading him to be recognized for his contributions. Overall, he participated in more than seven HCOP programs.

“Overall, the HCOP team is a second family to most students who participate in the programs, and this is evident by the feedback they give. Dr. Hurley has devoted much of her illustrious career to uplifting generations of students and have them excel within the healthcare field. Her wisdom is invaluable, and her efforts are tireless,” Lubonja shared.  “Jan Figueroa and Anastasia Rollins also deserve recognition for their hard work and dedication to the students. They are pivotal to the success of the programs, and the students rely heavily on them for guidance.”

His advice to the youth of Connecticut wishing to pursue a career in health care or science: “There will be hundreds of obstacles on the road to success. If a person treats obstacles as opportunities for growth rather than burdens, the road becomes enjoyable.”

Lubonja was born in Tirana, Albania and immigrated to the United States in 2001. Since coming to the United States, he has called Newington, Conn. his hometown. He also completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Connecticut with a major in Molecular and Cell Biology and a minor in Political Science. He was a member of the highly selective Honors Program and a John and Valerie Rowe Health Professions Scholar. During his undergraduate years at UConn, Lubonja held several leadership roles and took part in multiple research endeavors. Prior to matriculating to medical school, he conducted research at the National Institutes of Health and Yale School of Medicine as a Post-Graduate Research Fellow.

While at UConn School of Medicine, he received several awards relating to his research and his community outreach. Lubonja was a standout medical student and was even voted by his peers to serve as their Class of 2022 School of Medicine Commencement speaker. He completed a preliminary year in surgery at Dartmouth School of Medicine prior to continuing his training at UMass.

Lubonja also overcame the grand challenge of attending medical school during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Being in hospitals during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was challenging physically and emotionally. However, our struggles as students paled in comparison to what attending physicians, nurses, and ancillary staff had to experience. They are true heroes,” he shared back in 2022 and how thankful all the students like him were for the health care providers taking them under their wings even when hospitals were being overwhelmed by ill patients.

Thanks to HCOP and UConn School of Medicine, Lubonja’s career goal remains to become a surgeon who practices in an academic setting so that he may continue participating in research while acting as a mentor to future generations of medical students and surgical residents.

“Surgery residency is going well. It is rewarding to put theory into action by being in the operating room. It is that much more rewarding to finish a case successfully and know that the patient’s life has been changed for the better,” Lubonja said. “The University of Massachusetts General Surgery program is the ideal place to train because of the breadth and depth of illnesses that we see and because there truly is a familial bond between all of the residents which in return makes the days seem shorter than they really are.”

Lubonja concludes, “My wife, Enxhi, is currently pursuing her Ph.D. on the same campus and this makes things even better because her support is instrumental to my success.”