LMSA

NEWSLETTER Spring 2017

Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) -Western Region

Inside this issue

Featured: Dr. Erica Lubiner ....... 2-3

Utah ............................................ 4

UACOM-Phoenix ......................... 5

Washington................................. 6

Davis ........................................... 7

Interview: Dr. Talamantes ........... 8-9

Stanford ...................................... 10

UCLA ........................................... 11

ATSU-SOMA ................................ 13

Congratulations to all our wonderful graduating seniors! Congratulations to all of our future Latino doctors graduating this year

and getting one step closer to helping those communities that raised

them and gave them so much. Please join as we reminisce and remember

all the good times and events we participated in thanks to LMSA.

Spring 2017

Tell us a bit about yourself. There’s a lot to say. However, I think the most important for me to communi-cate is “It’s hard and it’s all worth it!” I love being a doctora. It makes me happy to help children and their familias. What motivated you enter the field of medicine? As a kid, I was always good at helping and good in science. I was also aware of injustice and the disparities growing up in my immigrant neighborhood. My poetry describes some of my experiences as a translator in medical settings with my neighbors and family. What led you to your decision to enter the field of psychiatry? I’m a historian at heart. I majored in history and women’s studies. So as a med student I was always interested in the backstory/history of my patients. What led them to this point in their life? Why didn’t anything change from the last visit where I felt that we had discussed the medications and the plan thoroughly? I also noticed a lot of patient anxiety that was not addressed in a 15-30 minute visit. What initially prevented me from doing psychiatry right away was this ideal-ized vision of what a community doctor should be. In my early vision, I didn’t see a psychiatrist as a doctor rooted in the community. So I thought I’d do pediatrics. After seeing some role models in psychiatry, I know a psychiatrist can transform a community!

“Uncertainty is inevitable, terror about it, is optional. Learn to embrace it or at least hold it. It seems scary but it’s actually an opportunity to radically change your life in a new direction.”

Featured Physician: Dr. Erica Lubliner

Dr. Erica Lubliner

• Child Adolescent Psychiatry Fellow at UCLA-San Fernando VA Psychiatry Pro-gram

• APA Diversity Lead-ership Fellow

• Medical School: Charles Drew Uni-versity/ UCLA Medi-cal Education Pro-gram

• Undergrad: UCLA

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Personal Experience “did doña maria know i was making up the translation? guilt was stronger than intimida-tion so I asked the doctor what he meant by “lethargic” looking down at me I could see los pelos de su nariz (his nose hairs) I could feel his disgust at having to explain himself to a young girl and an ignorant dark overweight woman with her sick dark baby… and those ladies and this doctor take a breath and let it out so everyone can hear “lethargic means the baby just lies there, has no strength, weak” and he walks out of the room never once looking at doña ma-ria in the eye.”

How has your involvement in mentorship evolved over the years - as an undergrad, med student, and now a physician? I have many mentees. Some I see often, others only a few times a year. And yet others, I’ve only helped them once, but they later told me how they’ve valued my advice. I’ve learned to let my mentees seek my help first. It’s important to have initiative. I have also started a couple of mentoring programs in LMSA, including the faculty mentorship pro-gram for medical students. Medical students are always asked to mentor others, but I felt an absence of mentorship for career development. I feel strongly that mentorship has to be at all levels of train-ing and include championing of mentees. I also think it is important to mentor people from different backgrounds so you grow as a mentor yourself. It is very important to mentor undocumented stu-dents and I help run an organization dedicated to scholarship and mentoring opportunities for un-documented students. What is the best piece of advice you got from a mentor? One of my mentors is Dr. Hayes-Bautista. He’s given invaluable advice throughout the years. Howev-er, I think his example has been the greatest advice. He’s a gifted researcher, storyteller, academic, advocate and overall person. He’s always listened, been enthusiastic, shown support for my BIGGEST and smallest ideas and has never tried to put me into a box. In fact, he’s interested in helping me look at what I have to offer, in a way, unpack the box I came from. What has mentorship meant to you and how has it impacted your life? It’s incredible. When you can see yourself reflected in your mentors, my goodness, your life changes. It’s hard to describe. If you could give one piece of advice to yourself as a premed student, as a medical student, what would it be? As a premed, I would have addressed my anxiety. I didn’t know I had anxiety. I just worried in silence and coped. I would have learned to meditate/mindfulness and pay attention to my thought content. As a medical student, I would have eased up on my extracurriculars. I did too much. I ran LMSA, the literary arts journal, the BEAT, a community scholarship organization, a jewelry business, took care of my mother and friends, showed up to events to support, and still thought I could do well in medical school. I was passionate about helping others, but forgot to help myself. I don’t really have regrets because I learned through each experience. Through therapy, I recognized my resilience, strengths, and growth. I’ve learned to tell myself that I’m enough just as I am, and humbly, that I’m pretty won-derful [she laughs]. What do you think is the best way for a student to find a mentor? Attend conferences, meetings, and ask others to connect. Mentorship is a complicated thing some-times due to time constraints, work/life balance, and the energy it takes to be present for others. Never take a lack of reply via email or phone from a potential mentor, as a rejection. Everyone in medicine has a busy life. I love the saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” Simi-larly, when the mentee is ready, the right mentor will appear. Relax and be proactive. Anything else you’d like to say? Uncertainty is inevitable, terror about it, is optional. Learn to embrace it or at least hold it. It seems scary but it’s actually an opportunity to radically change your life in a new direction.

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By Matias Calquin, MSI University of Utah School of Medi-cine matias.calquin@hsc.utah.edu Revealing Possibilities and Path-ways: A Mentor’s Charge Since coming to the U.S., I always had a desire to have a career in med-icine. However, during my first se-mester in college, I became discour-aged due to my lack of connections in the field. After a two-year reli-gious mission, my interest was once again captured by a medical career, so I started taking the “pre-med” classes. Even though I had the typi-cal pre-med schedule, I felt insecure. I didn't have someone who I could go to for clarification. I needed a mentor. What is the easiest way to find a mentor? Who could I go to for ad-vice that wouldn't think of me as a burden? These and other thoughts entered my mind as I thought about potential candidates. During this time, I visited my University's Pre-Professional Advising Office (PPAO) to get some help. They offered me great tips on how to approach po-tential mentors. The best advice they gave me was to start out by thinking about the doc-tors that I already knew. From there, they encouraged me to pick a doctor I would feel comfortable asking questions. For me, this happened to be a doctor who attended the same religious congregation as my family. For a few years, my mother, a house-cleaner, had been employed by him. I had accompanied her many times to clean his house, and had built a good relationship with him. This mentor was able to answer the

many questions I had about applica-tions, lifestyle, things I could do to make myself a more competitive applicant, and even let me shadow him to gain clinical experience. I would never have been able to achieve my goals without the guid-ance of an experienced mentor. My undergraduate experience led me and fellow classmates to help start the LMSA mentoring program at the University of Utah. This pro-gram pairs undergraduate and high school students with medical stu-dents for one-on-one mentoring. Working with the undergraduate PPAO, the Office of Health Equity and Inclusion, and our chapter of LMSA, we have started a thriving program that has already helped dozens of students. While our main goal is to help students that come from underrepresented populations in healthcare, we are open to any-one coming to our events. We try to make our monthly events as personal as possible. In January, we held a “speed mentoring” event where 15 mentees could ask 17 mentoring medical students and 2 physicians questions they had. Each undergraduate student spoke with each mentor personally, and asked any question they wanted. We hope our program will help un-derrepresented students find men-tors and establish close relationships with them. These mentors are es-sential to help interested students navigate the often obscure path of becoming a physician.

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Supporting Our Minority Students at Connect2Mentor Fatima Esquivel, MS1 UA COM Phoenix fhernan5@email.arizona.edu When I received the acceptance call from my medical school, I was over-whelmed with joy. It was the culmi-nation of years of hard work and a success I share with every person that encouraged me to pursue a career in medicine. I learned to have courage and determination for my goals from my mother, and she was my biggest cheerleader. But there are no doctors in my family and I was the first-generation college student. When it came to figuring out how I could make my dream of becoming a doc-tor reality, I needed to look for men-tors to show me the path. Those mentors came in different forms and at different times in my life, but each had the same thing in common: they believed in me and wanted to help. Connect2Mentor, held at U of A COM-Phoenix, invited professionals working in the fields of science, tech-nology, engineering, and math (STEM) to share their advice and experiences with high school students from across the Valley. Although the college supports a variety of mentoring programs, this event was spe-cial. It targeted minority students with the drive and curiosity to explore a STEM career but lacked the mentorship to understand how to get started. The organizers took it a step further and recruited mentors that shared the student's background and ethnicity. Why is that important? Because to believe that you can accomplish your goals it is not enough to just be told that you can do it - you must believe you can do it. For many students, especially minority students, seeing and meeting someone that looks like them and has had a similar upbringing makes a tremendous impact. I eagerly signed up for the event and recruited my husband (who works in IT as an infrastructure engineer) and older brother (who works as an aerospace engineer) to attend. We spent the morning meeting stu-dents, parents, and other mentors from the community. I quickly learned that asking a high school student for their career interest was asking for too much. So, I took a different approach and instead asked, ‘What is the biggest challenge you are facing right now?’ I was surprised at how quickly each student answered and how much they had to say. Problems ranged from trouble with homework, feeling like their parents didn't understand, or having to babysit younger siblings and feeling stressed. I listened and responded the best way I could. After meeting several dozen students and asking them this one simple question, the re-sounding takeaway and my most offered advice was this: Don't be afraid to ask for help. Hard work can only take you so far, you will need other people to help you accomplish your goals. There are so many peo-ple who understand your challenges and want to help, but no one can read your mind, you have to ask for it. Asking for help is not easy, it takes courage. Sometimes you won't always get it, but if you're determined you will find it.

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LMSA and Chicanos for CCM after a fun night of “Health Professions Speed Dating” Laurisa Rodrigues Winter 2017 University of Washington School of Medicine laurisam@uw.edu This winter, medical students from UW LMSA and undergrad pre-health students from UW Chicanos/Latinos For Community Medicine (CCM) got to-gether for a fun night of “Health Professions Speed Dating”. For many years UW LMSA and UW CCM have partnered together to ensure pre-med Latino undergrad students have access to mentors and resources within the University of Washington School of Medicine. The “Speed Dating” theme was a fun way to give CCM students time to talk with several medical students in a relaxed and fun environment. The night began with a delicious papusa dinner and was filled with lots of laughter and wonderful mentorship. After dinner and announcements each medical student sat at a table with one to two CCM members. A timer was set for ten minutes and CCM students were able to talk with LMSA members and ask questions about medical school and/or the application process. Each table also had a number of written questions to spark conversation, just in case there was a lull in the conversation. Students from CCM rotated through each table throughout the night and got the chance to talk to each medi-

cal student. “Speed Dating” was a fantastic and creative twist on the usual mentoring/networking event, and we have to thank the CCM leadership for being so creative and organizing the “speed dating”. Our fellow LMSA chapters should consider trying a “speed dating” event or something similar. This type of event took away much of the nervousness that often occurs when approaching people at mentoring/networking events. Rotating tables eve-ry ten minutes also gave each of the students from CCM a chance to meet and talk with all the medi-cal students which often doesn’t happen at other mentoring events. Overall this was a fabulous night that allowed UW LMSA connect with and mentor future colleagues.

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Esperanza: Mentorship Through Shared Expe-

riences

Jennifer Ramos

UC Davis School of Medicine jenramos@ucdavis.edu

Background:

UC Davis SOM LMSA chapter has been working

towards improving our connection with under-

graduate groups that offer support for pre-health students who are underrepresented in medicine. We

have been working to establish ties to both the UC Davis and Sacramento State students who are part of

Chicanx/Latinx in Health Education (CHE). More recently we partnered with UC Davis CHE to participate

and help facilitate a Post- Baccalaureate Panel for interested undergraduate students.

Details:

UCD CHE students were eager to learn more about the opportunities a Post-Baccalaureate program has to

offer. Several undergraduate students from various grade levels attended a panel with three first year

medical students and a recent alumni of the UC Davis Post-Bac. Program. The panelist described their ex-

perience with the program they completed, logistics of the application, and their transition into medical

school or other activities during time off. Most importantly, panelists shared why it was that they decided

to pursue medicine, which many of the attendees seemed to appreciate.

Impact on those involved:

The panelists and the students in attendance were all Latino and/or part of an immigrant family. Many of

the stories resonated with the entire group, as undergraduate students were able to identify and relate to

some of the struggles and successes faced by the medical students. These type of narratives are impactful

because then students can leave the panel with a new frame of mind. One where they will not let them-

selves be discouraged from pursuing medicine by the missteps or criticisms of others. They are hopefully

reinvigorated to find their own path into medicine and seek the help of programs and individuals who want

to help them reach their goal.

Why it is important to LMSA-West members/alumni:

Many of us, current medical students and physicians, can remember a time during our journey into medi-

cine when we felt lost. A time where all of the doors seemed to have slammed shut, and there was no

longer any esperanza that we would ever become a doctor. These feelings, however, were pushed aside

when we attended conferences, workshops, or panels where our mentors encouraged us to keep fighting

and working towards our dream. Many of us had some level of involvement with organizations and pipe-

line programs aimed at increasing the number of Latin@ physicians and health care workers. Thus, many of

us are here today because of efforts like

these from those that came before us, and

we should continue to guide and mentor

those that come after.

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You have devoted a lot of your energy to mentoring, why is mentorship so important to you? Mentoring transformed my life and I am paying it forward. It was Dr. Frank Meza, LMSA Lifetime Achieve-ment Award winner, who inspired me to learn how to become an effective mentor. We are all standing on the shoulders of giants, like Dr. Meza, who came before us. From this vantage point, mentoring is a strategy to ensure health careers are accessible to more Latino and other underrepresented minority students in medicine. It is also the key to ensuring our communities receive high quality health care. From my time as an undergraduate student until now, I have mentored 1000’s of Latino pre-health students. Many are in medical school and leaders in LMSA, and will become even greater mentors. Sharing in everyone’s mentor-ing success gives my life great meaning and purpose. As an expert mentor, what advice do you have for mentors and mentees to establish more effective mentor-ing relationships? I am by no means and expert, but flattered by the compliment. I am constantly reading articles and books on mentoring. I also make sure to always mentor. Practicing the theoretical is crucial to your development as a mentee/mentor. I learned early on that to be a good mentee or mentor you must be committed to self-improvement and be humble enough to not fall into the trap of becoming an expert. Be humble in your mentoring. This by far is the best advice I can give anyone - and applies to the mentee and mentor. This does not mean that you shy away or not share your story. Proudly share your story and sincerely tackle the truths of your struggle and success. Mentoring is also a marathon so pace yourself, hydrate to stay fresh, and find a good team to train with and cheer you on. You worked with some of your colleagues and friends to create Alliance in Mentorship and later developed MiMentor. Can you tell us how and why these organizations were developed? Mentorship is a team sport! Alliance in Mentorship (AIM), a 501c3 non-profit, was created to increase col-laborations between all the organizations that helped me succeed as a pre-health and health professions student, and health professional. It is thanks to organizations like Chicanos/Latinos for Community Medicine (CCM), the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA), Latino Physicians of California (LPOC) and the Na-tional Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) that many of us are here today. As alumni of these organiza-tions, AIM made a significant investment in technology to create a collaborative mentoring community where we could support each other on-line and in person. This was how we decided to create Mi-Mentor.org and our alliance of organizations and phenomenal leaders continue to strengthen it to ensure that health careers mentoring is accessible to more Latino and other underrepresented current and aspiring

STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS Interview with Dr. Efrain Talamantes

By Fatima Reyes Thank you for your time and for sharing your wisdom with our LMSA West students. Most students in LMSA West have had the pleasure to hear you speak or interact with you since you are so active as an LMSA

West advisor and one of the leading forces behind

MiMentor, nonetheless, can you share your cur-rent positions and titles? I am an assistant clinical professor in Internal Medicine at the University of California, Davis where I serve as the Associate Director for the Center for Reducing Health Disparities and the Associate Program Director for the Internal Medi-cine Residency Program. I am one of the co-founders of MiMentor.org and lead various re-search initiatives throughout the country to en-hance diversity in the healthcare workforce and advance health equity.

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professionals. The success of MiMentor has been fueled by 100’s of great pre-health student and health professional leaders. I am very proud of this collaborative mentoring success. What are the short and long term goals for MiMentor? MiMentor’s mission is to develop and support innovative mentorship opportunities that will inspire the next generation of healthcare leaders for underserved communities. Our vision is to live in a world where all aspiring and current health professionals have a mentor and can mentor the next generation. Our fundamental goal is to make mentoring easier for busy pre-health students and health professionals. This has resulted in our signature “Together We Mentor,” mentoring events where we work with health professionals to set-up a mentoring event in a convenient location where a small group of pre-health students can attend. These mentoring events take place in local coffee shops, clinics, universities and other community locations. Sometimes as a student it is challenging to find time to engage and give back to our community while balancing a full academic load. What recommendations do you have for medical and premedical stu-dents to successfully balance academics and social justice/volunteer work? Balance is very important. I work with my mentors to help me identify opportunities for development where I can also give back. Often we do not know how we can best give back because we do not rec-ognize or appreciate our own abilities. Once of my first experiences as a college student giving back was becoming a chemistry tutor for the Academic Advancement Program at the University of Califor-nia, Los Angeles. I was deathly afraid of teaching younger college students, but a great mentor helped me through the process. Tutoring was a great way to mentor others, but also strengthened my academic skills. Social justice is needed in every aspect of what we do, from education to provid-ing medical care. You can always give back in so many meaningful ways. Many first generation students and students of color have faced many years of micro-aggressions and racism within academic institutions. Often students suffer impostor syndrome, how would you de-scribe impostor syndrome to someone who is not familiar with the term and how have you worked to overcome the feelings of anxiety and insecurity in the academia? We are living in interesting times. There are many emotions we all feel that can interfere with our ability to learn. I cannot over emphasize how important mentors and mentees are in helping you process macroaggressions and other painful isms. I have learned to appreciate that the farther you go in your career, the more of an imposter you will feel. Others will also attempt to make you feel like an imposter because they will constantly challenge you as a leader. Mentoring is an opportunity to practice mindfulness and overcome these feelings of imposter. Mindfulness requires me to be present, acknowledge how I and others feel, and appreciate someone’s story for what it is without judging. I would encourage everyone to learn more about or practice mindfulness in all the work they do. What words of encouragement would you give our students as they study for midterms? Finally, any final things you want to share with our students? Exams are stressful. Make sure to give yourself plenty of time to study. Stick to a schedule and put any emotionally stressful challenges or people on hold, if possible. Cleanse your mind of any negative thinking and focus on learning as much as you can. Ask your Teaching Assistants, Professors and Tu-tors for help. I learned early on not to leave anything blank. Be confident in that the knowledge is in your mind. Lastly, download MiMentor on your iOS or Android! See you at the next LMSA conference! 9

Visiting a Medical School: Why It Matters

Alvaro Amorin

MS1 Co-chair of LMSA

Stanford School of Medicine

amorin@stanford.edu

I remember the first time I stepped foot on a medi-

cal school campus. It happened only a few years

ago when a community college professor that

worked at a lab invited me to join him for a day. It

was a very exciting day. I woke up very early in the

morning, so early that the sun had yet to come up. I

did not want to be late and I did not know what to

expect. I didn’t know anything about the medical

school or its medical students, including how they

would dress and act, and whether or not any of

them looked like me. To say I was nervous was an

understatement. It was a chilly morning, and I ar-

rived just in front of the main building. The building

that stood before me could only be described as

awe-inspiring, but not because of its aesthetics.

Actually, the windows were outdated and covered

in dust. The rusting aluminum frames were rem-

nants of a different style in American architecture,

but in my mind it was perfect, magnificent, all-

powerful, and breathtaking. For a brief moment, all

the city noise went silent. This place represented

more than its structural facade allowed it to show.

To me, it signified a dream, a goal, and an objec-

tive: to become a doctor. Many thoughts of joy and

uncertainty crossed my mind that morning while

my gaze kept following the column of windows all

the way up to ceiling to the point where I was look-

ing straight up at the sky. I had a rush of adrenaline

and felt an invigorated sense of “Si se puede”,

simply because I was physically present on the

campus of this medical school. Since that day, I

have become a devout believer in showing stu-

dents their future place of study.

This past December, Stanford University’s LMSA

chapter hosted a group of students from Chicanos/

Latinos in Health Education (CHE), an undergradu-

ate group at Stanford that works to provide aca-

demic, professional, cultural, and social support to

Chicanos and Latinos pursuing careers in the areas

of science and medicine. During their visit, we gave

the undergrads a tour of the facilities, shared our

experiences as medical students, and paired each

of them with mentor. Our goal was to make our-

selves available to the undergrads for any ques-

tions or concerns they might have as they embark

on their journeys to a medical career.

While giving a tour of the facilities, we learned that

only 1 out of 16 of the students had stepped foot in

the medical school. It was sad to hear that the un-

dergrads had not visited the medical school of their

own institution, especially since our medical school

and hospital are located on the university’s main

campus. Asking around for reasons, I got responses

like, “It didn’t occur to me [to come check out the

medical school]”, “What am I supposed to do

there?”, and "What if they notice I am not a medi-

cal student?”, etc. This struck a chord with me, es-

pecially the last statement. We took them to the

back of the medical school on the fourth floor, and

from a large window we stared out into the night

and I pointed to the direction of the hospital and

said “that’s our hospital”. At this point, I heard a

resounding “I want to come here”. We overcome a

big hurdle that night. Si uno cree, todo se puede en

esta vida.

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La Posada 2016

Kevin Correa

MS2

UCLA – Charles R. Drew

KCorrea@mednet.ucla.edu

Winter is the season for tamales, champurrado,

and familia. For the UCLA – Drew LMSA chap-

ter, it also means our fifth annual La Posada. The

fundraising and mentorship event that brings togeth-

er generations of future, current, and past LMSA

members. Since 2014, this event has transformed to a

highly successful night of mentoring and a means to

raise funds for the chapter. Regardless of how the

event is organized, students and physicians always

find a way to connect whether it is through an orga-

nized speed mentoring session or rotating salsa partners.

The night began with only the best meal possible – tacos. Table arrangements were

made in a manner where students could mingle with faculty, clinicians, and community

leaders. Following the meal was two of the keynote speakers who shared their experiences

and insight. First, being Dr. Elena Rodriguez, who spoke about her journey in becoming

an OB/GYN, training in the latest of robotic surgery, and now practicing in the highly

needed area of South Los Angeles. Following her was Dr. Eddie Ramirez, who delivered a

powerful message on making sure that one is always working their best and always keep-

ing the future in mind. Lastly, Dr. Hayes-Bautista led the singing of Pedimos Posada as

students and guests cheered with champurrado. The night ended with professional salsa

instructors teaching guests the basics of salsa. As a result, a big circle formed and partners

rotated demonstrating their newly learned moves, which also gave them a chance to net-

work.

It is in events like these that past-LMSA members who are now physicians manage

to stay involved with what their chapters have been doing.

The streamlined mentorship between class years is facilitat-

ed through events like La Posada - with such similar atti-

tudes and backgrounds, lifelong friendships and colleagues

are made. Future goals for the event are expanding it to in-

vite additional medical schools in the area, and increasing

the annual attendance. Furthermore, it will provide other

LMSA Chapters with ideas on how they can make their own

version of a yearly mentorship event with their alumni

members. La Posada is a unique event to the UCLA-Drew

LMSA Chapter that never fails to instill that sense of famil-

ia in students no matter how challenging medical school is.

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Pen-Pal Mentorship Marissa Buendia OMS-I ATSU-SOMA mobispo@atsu.edu

The track to medical school is a difficult one, especially without any guidance in the process. Several members of LMSA-SOMA, including myself, reported that it was difficult to find a mentor to advise them through the course of MCAT prep and medical school applications. We decided to offer pen-pal mentorship to a pre-med post-bac program. A sign-up sheet was posted on the post-bac program’s Facebook page. In a short hour several pre-med students were signed up eager for help. First year medical students from our class volunteered to take a mentee under their wing. The mentor relationships will be maintained via email. Mentorship is vital, and unfortunately, something so simple is not available to numerous aspiring doctors. It’s great that LMSA-SOMA is able expand the mentorship program and help future colleagues accomplish their goals.

LMSA Conference Reminder

Please be sure to join us in cele-

brating our graduating seniors this

March 24th-25th @ UCSF. Hope to

see you there!

Refer to the front page for further

details.

Saludos!

LMSA-West Region

Questions? Comments? Contact

me at:

Francisco Javier Andrade Jr.

University of Arizona

VP of Newsletter 2016-2017

Andrade8@email.arizona.edu