A Latina in love with Internal Medicine, I look forward to long hours in the hospital giving my all to your residency program. Being fully bilingual in English/Spanish gives me something valuable to contribute to your team. It brings me particular joy to speak Spanish as a medical professional, mainly when doing so for the sake of medical care, even saving lives, and helping some of the most vulnerable and underserved members of my community, most often when they present themselves at an emergency room as a last resort. While I am devastated by the suffering caused worldwide by the COVID-19 virus, I am heartened that my being bilingual further heightens the value and urgency of what I can contribute, fomenting accurate and timely communication across demographics and health care.
Seeking balance in everything I do, I always put medicine first; I love music, hiking, dancing, and family. I see everything holistically, which is why I feel called to build a career in Internal Medicine, focusing on the whole person, the patient, who will always stand at the center of my world. I enjoy that Internists take everything and anything into consideration in their evaluation of the patient. This is why I have never deviated from my central focus on Internal Medicine since shortly after starting medical school, because of the primary way I am drawn toward the holistic aspects of medical thinking and diagnosis.
I take pride and find immense joy in being a good daughter, sister, friend, and student. I like to excel in every one of them. In medical school, as difficult as it became, I tried my best to be not only a medical student but also a daughter and a sister. Studying Medicine almost 24/7 as a medical student resulted in several birthdays missed and the birth of my nephew, but my family is highly supportive, and it is an honor for all of us to have a soon-to-be medical doctor in the family. In addition to the family, I have made some time for my top passions, cooking, and boxing, with a touch of salsa and dancing along the way. Boxing has kept me in shape throughout medical school, and salsa is also a welcome escape from the books.
For me, Internal Medicine turns on how each organ has its appropriate function and the need to maintain balance and harmony. I see the internist as something like an orchestra conductor striving for synchronicity, with balance and harmony required for survival. During my clinical rotations, I remember running into classmates eager to get to the specialty rotation on which they were already focused. I remember feeling grateful and happy that I wasn’t waiting eagerly for the following specialty but savoring what I was doing/learning, relishing my enjoyment of the big picture, a generalist at heart.
By the time I completed my internal medicine core rotation in my third year of medical school, I was committed to lifelong learning in this specialty, and I talked about it all the time, listening to internal medicine podcasts from the New England Journal of Medicine while driving, showering, and cooking. I invested in my favorite book, Harrison’s Principals of Internal Medicine, asking questions, and getting to know patients and their challenges. Internal medicine means that I can be everything to my patient. I can hold their hand and listen, listen to their heart, manage their blood sugar and hormonal imbalances, and if they break a leg, consult orthopedics, and continually properly educate them concerning concerns, procedures, and expectations.
For the balance of my professional life, serving as a physician for many decades, I will live up to the oath to honor, preserve, and care for human life at every turn, giving all to my patients. As the entire world struggles to breathe due to the ravages of COVID-19, I feel especially called and blessed to serve in the central and critical role of those who have chosen medicine as our profession. I watch and study as the death toll rises among nurses and doctors. I grieve and search for creative ideas and solutions to issues in my mind.
COVID-19 leaves me feeling glad to have chosen a medical career since it underscores why I always wanted to become a doctor in my mind and heart. This pandemic has reminded us of what is most important in our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren. Living and staying healthy threatens our capacity to go on in sustainable ways. I look forward to doing everything I can for my patients to meet the unique challenges of staying healthy in today’s troubled world.
Latina in Love with Internal Medicine Personal Editing