As a first generation Mexican woman, I did not seriously consider the possibility of being a doctor until recently. The profession seemed so out of reach for someone like me: someone who learned English as a second language, has blue collar parents, and is in a male dominated field. Having grown up in South Central Los Angeles, as a child, I did not realize that my community with a heavy prevalence of minorities, was underfunded and underserved. I never once questioned why it took hours to see a medical provider and why those providers never looked like the people from my community. I did not question why those providers could not communicate with my parents and why I, as a five year old child, served as an interpreter for my parents. It was not until I became an undergraduate and I was covered by student health insurance that I noticed the difference in healthcare disparities between a wealthy neighborhood like La Jolla and the LA neighborhood I call home. As such, I searched for opportunities beyond the classroom to further my understanding of these disparities in a clinical setting. I have served as a medical assistant and patient care coordinator, and through these experiences I have had the privilege of serving diverse patient populations, each with their unique stories and healthcare needs. I became acutely aware of the profound impact of chronic diseases that are prevalent in minority groups, such as diabetes. My father's own battle with type two diabetes, a preventable disease, served as a poignant reminder of the urgent need to address health disparities and promote access to culturally competent care. I am currently pursuing my master’s in Clinical Research to learn how to conduct research studies that can lead to new discoveries in medicine. I want to combine clinical research and practice and begin my journey towards becoming a physician that understands, educates, and treats patients with the most up to date research publications. I am excited to become the clinician I have always dreamt of being. I hope to be the type of provider that educates patients on the importance of health maintenance as a preventative measure for negative outcomes. I want to take the time to answer patients’ questions without trying to rush out the door to see the next, overbooked appointment. I want to advocate for my patients and ensure they are receiving the quality care that they deserve.

I grew up in the heart of South Central Los Angeles, a community with a heavy prevalence of people of color. My home was an immigrant household — I had a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment that I shared with my two siblings and parents. Having grown up with limited resources in their small Mexican village, my parents loved to hoard in their adulthood and that left me with lots of clutter for my curious mind to explore. We did not have much money for toys, but that did not stop me from using my imagination to come up with makeshift knick knacks to keep myself entertained. One of my favorite activities was trying to break down a USB drive; I had no clue what the small device was, but I needed to know how it worked, so I would find myself trying to break and open the inside to further inspect the small, plastic, metal thing that laid in front of me. Later, with the release of Disney’s Meet the Robinsons, I fell in love with science and since then, I’ve kept a quote from the movie as my life motto, “All it takes is some imagination and a little science, and we can make the world a better place.” As I grew older, I found myself gravitating towards the world of biology. In high school, I was able to take biotechnology courses that introduced me to lab techniques such as gel electrophoresis and DNA extraction. This pushed me to want to further pursue biology at a deeper level, so I majored in Molecular and Cell Biology during my undergraduate career. In college, I served as the president of my Latina-founded, academic sorority with the goal of promoting higher education in future generations. I also served as a resident assistant where I would provide support for first and second year students by mediating roommate conflicts and hosting events aimed at increasing equity, diversity, and inclusion. Moreover, I held a position as a patient care coordinator for an orthopedic surgeon and through this position, I solidified my decision in pursuing a career in the medical field. I am currently working towards a master’s in clinical research, but my ultimate goal is to pursue a medical degree, where I can merge my passion for patient care with the insights gained through clinical research. I want to use clinical research and practice to push the current understanding of nature versus nurture in underrepresented communities. Ultimately, my goal would be to empower through education, breaking down barriers related to language, ability, and other limitations.

The character from “The Office” that I resonate the most with is my queen, Kelly Kapoor. On the show, Kelly is depicted as being one of the youngest employees in the office who enjoys gossiping, engaging in the dreadful workplace romance, and doing just about anything other than working. As a 23 year old woman, I often times find myself being one of, if not the youngest, employee and as such I take great pride in ensuring that my older colleagues are up to date with the juiciest pop culture gossip. From making sure that they are indeed keeping up with the Kardashians to having them participate in the latest TikTok trends with me, I am sure that my colleagues would agree that Kelly and I play a very similar role in our workplaces. In the show, many of the other characters know way too much about Kelly and Ryan’s love life, mostly against their will. As a certified yapper and over-sharer, my coworkers know all the tea about my boyfriend and I, but unlike “The Office” characters, I would argue that my coworkers LOVE hearing everything we go through as it definitely makes the shifts go by faster. Watching the show made transitioning into a full time role less daunting as it gave me hope that work could be a place that I actually enjoy going to and thankfully, it has been. As my icon Kelly Kapoor would say, “You guys, I’m like really smart” so when when works becomes particularly challenging, I remind myself it is never that serious, I will think of a solution, and things will be okay.

As a first generation Mexican woman, I did not seriously consider the possibility of being a doctor until recently. The profession seemed so out of reach for someone like me: someone who learned English as a second language, has blue collar parents, and is in a male dominated field. Having grown up in South Central Los Angeles, as a child, I did not realize that my community with a heavy prevalence of minorities, was underfunded and underserved. I never once questioned why it took hours to see a medical provider and why those providers never looked like the people from my community. I did not question why those providers could not communicate with my parents and why I, as a five year old child, served as an interpreter for my parents. It was not until I became an undergraduate and I was covered by student health insurance that I noticed the difference in healthcare disparities between a wealthy neighborhood like La Jolla and the LA neighborhood I call home. This realization helped solidify my decision to pursue healthcare. I have served as a medical assistant and patient care coordinator, and through these experiences I have had the privilege of serving diverse patient populations, each with their unique stories and healthcare needs. I became acutely aware of the profound impact of chronic diseases that are prevalent in minority groups, such as diabetes. My father's own battle with type two diabetes, a preventable disease, served as a poignant reminder of the urgent need to address health disparities and promote access to culturally competent care. Alongside these experiences, exposure to clinical research drove my desire to be a catalyst for change and deepen my understanding of research methodologies, biostatistics, and ethical considerations, laying the groundwork for a career dedicated to educating patients on the steps they can take to better their health. I am currently working towards a master’s in clinical research, but my ultimate goal is to pursue a medical degree, where I can merge my passion for patient care with the insights gained through clinical research. I want to use clinical research and practice to push the current understanding of nature versus nurture in underrepresented communities. Ultimately, my goal would be to empower through education, breaking down barriers related to language, ability, and other limitations. Despite my eagerness to join the medical field, being a pre-med student has proven to be very expensive. Registering for the MCAT is $335, a set of prep books costs $225, a prep course averages over $2000, online question banks average about $300, and this also does not take into account wages lost from having to take time off of work to study full time. I am a firsthand witness to the financial barriers that come with medicine, both pursuing it as a career and receiving medical treatment. I aspire to be the type of physician that takes into account patient copays and health disparities in order to provide the best possible care for underserved populations.