Becoming a medical student at UIC has been a long but attainable journey. My journey started when I was born in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. Both of my parents were immigrants from a small town in Guanajuato, Mexico. Despite the fact that both of my parents had to adjust to their new life in a foreign country, they always made sure that my siblings and I never lost sight of our rich Mexican culture and the people with whom we share this bond. I am extremely grateful for these values that were passed on to me especially since they have empowered me to shape my goals and strive to become a great bilingual physician in the Pilsen and surrounding neighborhoods. Most importantly, though, I hope to instill this orgullo mexicano in my own daughter who is now 6 years old.

I attended the neighborhood elementary school like so many others who live in the city. I do not believe it is the school or the test scores that determine a student’s future but the effort that a person puts forth as well as the family support system at home. This may be the reason why I was able to succeed in all levels of my education. I graduated from high school and decided to go to Urbana-Champaign to complete my undergraduate career. Being away from home helped me become more independent. I had to fix my own meals and do my own laundry and depend on myself to wake up and go to class. I also had a chance to earn money for myself by participating in a work-study program where I was a tutor in reading and math for elementary school children. Every once in a while I would meet premed counselors to assist me in the process of applying to medical school. Finally, during my senior year I started preparing for the ever dreaded MCATs and I applied to medical school right after graduation. Unfortunately, though, I was one of the unlucky ones who did not get accepted the first time around. Although it was heartbreaking, I decided to stay focused and gain some experience in the healthcare setting before attempting to apply to medical school again.

Once I graduated from college, I moved back to Chicago and continued to volunteer at a local hospital as well as work as a waitress until I was offered a research assistant job at the Children’s Memorial Hospital in the north side of Chicago. During this time I was able to gain unimaginable experience and insight that greatly reinforced my aspiration to become a physician. I consistently noticed the shortage of minority and Spanish speaking doctors in the clinics around the city while recruiting research participants. Through these experiences and other personal encounters, I learned how difficult it is for non- English speaking immigrants, to attain medical attention due to lack of communication. This lack of bilingual minority doctors rekindled my desire to become one of the few who can actually help bridge the gap that exists between the Spanish speaking community and monolingual doctors. Therefore, after two years of working as a research assistant at CMH, I decided to apply once again to medical school. This time, I was accepted.

Although there is an extensive list of medical schools to choose from, I decided to stay in Chicago. I decided to stay in the city since I am familiar with the environment and due to the fact that my daughter was starting school and I have great family support here in the city. Thus far, staying in Chicago has turned out to have been a great decision. Even though there are days when the stress from school and family can be overwhelming, I always try to keep in mind why I decided to attend medical school. I remind myself that in addition to having the ability to enhance communication between patients and the medical staff in the Latino community, I can make a dynamic contribution in any community and serve as an example for other female minorities and mothers to follow.

I am extremely excited about becoming the first female doctor in my family and being able to serve as a role model for generations of Latinos behind me, but most importantly, I hope to set an example of sacrifice and success that my daughter can follow in the future.