Sho Yano has been a college student for 12 years, but it's only recently that he looks as if he belongs, blending in with undergrad students in a Hyde Park coffee shop.

This week, the 21-year-old will complete the journey he began as a 9-year-old college freshman, becoming the youngest student in the University of Chicago's history to receive an M.D.

Yano was reading at age 2, writing by 3 and composing music by his 5th birthday. He graduated from Loyola University in three years — summa cum laude, no less. When he entered U. of C.'s prestigious Pritzker School of Medicine at 12, it was into one of the school's most rigorous programs, where students get both their doctorate and medical degrees.