JAY MATURI, CLASS OF 2018
JAY MATURI, CLASS OF 2018Jay Maturi graduated from University in 2018 and studied human biology. Today, he is a fourth-year medical school student at Johns Hopkins. Below, Jay answers a few questions about his educational experiences and how University prepared him for life in college and beyond.
What have you been up to since leaving University?
After graduating from UHS, I headed to California and studied Human Biology at Stanford, graduating in 2022. I took classes in biology, health policy, and economics. During college, I worked as an intern at the FDA during the pandemic, where I saw how policymakers responded to a real-time public health crisis. After college, I began medical school at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where I’m currently a fourth-year student. I’ll be graduating in June 2026!
How do you feel University best prepared you for college?
The small class sizes and close-knit community made it natural to build relationships with students and seek mentorship from professors in college and medical school. The frequent 1:1 sessions with my assigned UHS mentor pushed me to become more introspective about my goals for the future and the path to get there.
The independence and autonomy I had at UHS helped me navigate the unstructured parts of college life. I was asked to balance sports, extra-curriculars, and coursework early in my time at University, and the skills I built here helped me tremendously in college and beyond.
Do you see that the core values you learned at University still apply to your life now? How?
One core value I try to carry with me wherever I go is creativity. At University, I remember lip-syncing to Breaking Free from High School Musical during Dance Marathon, starring in a hilariously low-quality video skit of The Great Gatsby to promote our school dance, and helping create the “Ulympics” for Prize Day. I took classes in stained glass and portrait photography, and I always appreciated the way our English curriculum cultivated cordial conversation across differences of opinion.
Since leaving University, I have tried to follow similar creative pursuits in my everyday life. At Stanford, I joined an a cappella group that sang original music and wrote articles for satire journals. At Johns Hopkins, I’ve hosted several stand-up comedy nights and improv workshops for my classmates. I also produced and was the lead writer for our medical school’s annual music video! These creative outlets keep me grounded, especially when I’m navigating difficult coursework.
What is your favorite University memory?
Some of my favorite memories from University were on the soccer field. I played all four years at University and was co-captain during my senior year. During lunch, you would often find me and my friends playing pickup games on the field. The summer before senior year, our team traveled to Portugal and Spain to play in an international tournament in San Sebastián. I trained at a professional stadium, ate incredible food, and got to experience European soccer firsthand — all with some of my best friends. More than a decade later, many of us are still in close contact!
Other favorite experiences at UHS were my J-term classes. I always appreciated the opportunity to step outside the traditional classroom and explore new topics in depth. During my freshman year, I took a course on the Freedom Riders and their efforts to ensure that interstate travel remained desegregated. I still vividly remember walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with my classmates, reflecting on how much had changed — and how much hadn’t — in the decades after civil rights activists first crossed it. During my sophomore year, I studied Che Guevara and the socialist movement in Cuba, gaining insight into life in a country shaped by limited U.S. influence. During a week-long visit to Havana, we explored museums and cultural landmarks, and we engaged with a political atmosphere that felt markedly different from what I was accustomed to.
Do you regularly volunteer or do service work? If so, what do you do?
During college, I revitalized our school’s branch of Partners in Health, an organization dedicated to advancing health outcomes of the world’s most disadvantaged. I helped raise money for their campaign to decrease maternal mortality during pregnancy in Sierra Leone. I appreciated how effectively their organization used their funding, their transparency in all their work, and their end goal to address health disparities in a community that lacked an international advocate. If you find this kind of work interesting, I recommend reading anything written by Paul Farmer!
During my first year of medical school, I was co-director of my school’s community-based vision screening program. We went to different sites across Baltimore and screened patients for different eye problems – anything from vision checks to more complex diseases of the retina. We also provided long-term follow-up care to those at need. I really enjoyed interacting with so many community members and being able to provide free glasses to those that otherwise could not afford them.
What has been the most valuable lesson you’ve learned since leaving University?
Hospitals are places of extremes — where people celebrate their greatest joys and face their deepest losses. As a medical student, I’ve placed a newborn on her mother’s chest, and watched the family cry with happiness. I’ve also watched as an oncologist delivered the news of a cancer recurrence, the air in the room instantly shifting. These moments remind me just how fragile and precious life is — a lesson I first learned during my junior year, when my close friend Audrey was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma. Despite her medical team’s best efforts, she ultimately passed away.
Audrey’s death left me and my friends devastated. She had eighteen years of dreams and ambitions that would never be realized, and I struggled to make sense of that loss. That summer, my friends and I spent long nights talking — sharing grief, searching for meaning, and slowly learning how to support one another through pain. Those conversations helped me recognize the importance of presence, vulnerability, and human connection in times of suffering.
With time, I’ve gained a particular perspective: life consists of a limited number of moments in which we can positively or negatively impact the world around us. The most and best we can each do is bring people joy during each of those moments. Audrey set the perfect example — she was one of the most positive and genuinely happy people I’ve known. I am only now fully realizing what a tremendous gift that was.
Since her passing, I’ve tried to carry that lesson forward. In medicine, that means not only addressing patients’ physical health but also making space for their emotional needs. I strive to bring warmth, sincerity, and energy into every interaction — knowing that even small moments can have lasting meaning.