Alumni Feature
We are proud to celebrate one of Wycombe Abbey’s distinguished alumnae, Dr. Lily Chaisompong.
Dr. Lily’s journey began at Wycombe Abbey in the UK, where she boarded from 1986 to 1991, joining in Upper Fourth (Year 9) and graduating from Upper Sixth (Year 13). Her school years were shaped in Rubens House before completing her final year in Clarence House, a cherished tradition for graduates.
Today, she is a highly respected physician at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok, known for her clinical excellence and deep commitment to compassionate, patient-centred care
We spoke with Dr. Lily about how her five years at Wycombe Abbey shaped the doctor and the person she became.
A Quiet Confidence, and the Freedom to Be More Than One Thing
Looking back, Dr. Lily says the most enduring gift Wycombe Abbey gave her was not a single skill, but a mindset.
“One core value that I received from my time at Wycombe Abbey would be a quiet confidence in one’s potential to try or aspire to greater things, given the atmosphere and expectation of academic excellence.”
Just as formative, she says, was learning that intellectual brilliance had no single shape.
“Really bright and intelligent people need not only be in STEM or be stereotypical nerds. My peers really broadened out to be excellent in many spheres, whether it was classics, languages, history, politics, music, drama and much more.”
Boarding: A Transformative Journey
Boarding life, she reflects, was a formative crucible – not always easy, but transformative.
“Boarding certainly engenders earlier independence and maturity, by way of having to make more decisions for yourself, do things which parents may have helped with until a later age. It wasn’t always easy, especially as an international student suffering from culture shock, but it certainly helped me foster the mental resilience and develop the study habits that I needed to go through medical school.”
An Unexpected Path to Medicine
Dr. Lily’s journey to medicine was far from predetermined. As a student, her passions lay in history and literature, not sciences.
“I had never thought of being a doctor in my younger days and was more into history and literature, until my best friend at Wycombe Abbey UK, whose mother was a consultant gynaecologist, challenged me to change my A levels from the arts to the sciences, just to ‘try it out’. From then on, doing medicine just seemed the best option for me to incorporate using the sciences with the people skills that I had.”
It’s a reminder, she notes, of how a single conversation between friends and a school environment that made switching paths feel possible can quietly redirect a life.
Coming Full Circle
By the end of her time at Wycombe Abbey, Dr. Lily shares that she had absorbed more of British culture than many of classmates.
“By the time I completed my five years at Wycombe Abbey, I was probably more British than many others I met at medical school! Frankly, it wasn’t hard to go on to study at medical school in the UK, having come from Wycombe Abbey. The hard part was coming back to Thailand!”
The Art and Science of Being a Doctor
For Dr. Lily, the school’s strength in the arts and humanities, not just the sciences, proved essential to the kind of doctor she became.
“The holistic breadth of my education at Wycombe Abbey gave me a grounding in my general interest in patients as people, not simply a scientific subject. The fact that the school’s strength was the arts gave me a broader depth of understanding of the human condition and helped me balance the art and science of becoming a doctor. The inherent confidence that Wycombe gave to students already sets you up to more easily take a leadership role that doctors often have to step into.”
Asked about the most meaningful moments of her career, Dr. Lily doesn’t point to a single diagnosis or achievement, but to relationships built over decades.
“The most rewarding moments of my medical career have been the many times when families have heartfeltly thanked me for walking with their loved ones through their sicknesses, often until death. Often the children and grandchildren of my elderly patients have come to continue being my patients, so I am often looking after multiple generations of a family, which is a very gratifying thing.”
A Message to Wycombe Abbey Bangkok
As an alumna reflecting on the founding of Wycombe Abbey’s school in Bangkok, Dr Lily hopes the same spirit that shaped her will carry forward for a new generation of students.
“I would hope that Wycombe Abbey School in Bangkok would continue to offer both the depth and breadth of the educational experience that I was able to receive, with teachers and courses that challenge the minds and hearts of students much beyond excellent grades and university acceptances.”
Her closing words are for the pupils who will write the first chapters of Wycombe Abbey’s story in Bangkok:
“If I could give one piece of advice to the founding cohorts of pupils, it would be to take full advantage of the privilege of studying at a school with such a rich and consistent heritage of educational excellence. Don’t aim primarily for perfect grades or a top-tier university only, instead, become a deep, well-rounded thinker and doer.”
Jason Beilby (right).