Jim Dey: Grad student gets pointed relief from academic work

Photo by: John Dixon/The News-Gazette

Jack Hou holds fencing equipment at The Point fencing club in Champaign.

Fencing instructor Jack Hou doesn't want his students to just get the point he wants to run them through.

But it's OK if he does. The fourth-year student in the University of Illinois Medical Scholars program has the wherewithal to patch them up.

A native of China who came to live in the United States when he was 3, Hou combines medicine, research and fencing in a busy life that doesn't leave much room for other activities.

"It's busy, busy, busy every day," said the 25-year-old Hou.

A graduate of Iowa State University in biochemistry and statistics, he is studying for dual degrees in the eight-year program a doctorate in bioengineering and degree in medicine.

"Ideally, I want to go into something called academic medicine, where you have your own lab but also practice medicine," Hou said.

He's all business on the academic front. But Hou takes a break from the serious stuff with fencing he teaches aspiring fencers at local fencing club The Point, takes lessons himself from a veteran fencer and competes as a member of the Fencing Illini, a club team that faces off occasionally against Division I fencing teams from other universities.

"Fencing is my main relief from the stress of work. It's been my main hobby through grad school," he said.

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Jim Dey: Grad student gets pointed relief from academic work