ABOUT ME

           Upon applying to college, I knew I wanted to pursue a degree that combined my love for the sciences with a strong modern language education. Through my first Spanish classes in middle school, I became inspired by Latin American culture, where support and regard for the community are highly valued qualities. In high school, the prospect of communicating with diverse communities as well as my appreciation of the inherent beauty of the language motivated me to make fluency in Spanish one of my preeminent life goals. When I discovered the Spanish Language and International Health major (LIH) at Clemson, I was intrigued. I had not identified a program that was so unique in its ability to join the study of public health with competency in an essential language. After committing to Clemson, I declared a Bachelor of Science (BS) in LIH with a pre-professional health focus. In the spring semester of my sophomore year, I also committed to a minor in chemistry.  

            Ever since a young age, I have been intrigued by the healthcare system. Through the often difficult interactions my family members had with medicine, I understood how vital it was that providers listen to their patients. I began to realize how collective socialization and ostracization can contribute to inequity in health outcomes for vulnerable communities. In college, this interest influenced me to take advantage of numerous opportunities – including starting a society for underrepresented pre-medical students and participating in a research project centered on cardiovascular health disparities in South Carolina. Through these experiences, I became dedicated to understanding how social, political, and environmental determinants impact who has access to adequate healthcare. I have also explored these topics in many of my Spanish courses, which has strengthened my ambition to become a culturally competent physician. The dedication of numerous professors within the College of Behavioral, Social, and Health Sciences (CBSHS) and the Department of Languages have, respectively, helped to fortify my intellectual foundation in public health theory as well as my oral proficiency in Spanish. Further, my fascination with chemical phenomena has been developed through my pursuit of a chemistry minor, which has helped to strengthen my foundation in the sciences. Many of these courses are described in the Coursework portion of my e-Dossier along with examples of my produced work.

            My time at Clemson has also been marked by unique extracurricular involvements, one of these being the Creative Inquiry: Stories of Detention, Refuge, and Hospitality. Through conversations in Spanish, I have had the privilege to hear stories from a few of the countless individuals who are afflicted by immigration detention and policy in the United States. These interactions have motivated me to pursue human rights work in medicine by defending liberation and choice as essential freedoms that are inextricably connected to the wellbeing of our communities. I intend to expand this interest through another Creative Inquiry project, Narratives of the Incarcerated: Upstate Critical Thinking Initiative, in the Fall of 2020, which focuses on incarceration in the US prison system by studying prison-related literature and developing a solution to reduce recidivism rates in the Upstate. As a physician, I will the use my understanding of how socialization and implicit bias impacts the institutions we interact with, enabling me to combat the deep-seated inequality in the medical services available to underserved populations. These along with other impactful experiences are detailed in the Involvement portion of my e-Dossier.

            Ultimately, I am driven to unite my interest in social justice, advocacy, and holistic healthcare through my medical education. I will be attending medical school in the Fall of 2021 and I am strongly considering a dual MD/MPH degree. In medical school, I intend to become involved with medical advocacy groups that reflect my interest in immigration and prison reform, human rights, and reproductive justice. Through my professional practice, I will implement my understanding of the discrepancies within the healthcare system to offer a more humanistic and culturally relevant approach to care.

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To learn more about my undergraduate experiences, please navigate to my resume in English here. Alternatively, please find my resume in Spanish here.