Ramon Resa, MD: Abandoned by his mother at age 2, Ramon was taken in by a farm working couple and raised as one of 14 children in a two-room house – all were sent to work in the fields as full-time migrant child farmworkers; he studied at UC Santa Cruz and UCI Medical School; became a pediatrician and returned to the area he grew up to be the doctor and role model for children like he once was.
Lisa Ramirez, EdD: Lisa worked full-time as a migrant child farm laborer. She struggled with the pressure of being responsible to earn money to help her family survive, while also being held accountable for doing well with her schoolwork. Lisa ended up getting kicked out of high school for punching the principal. A self described, ‘recovered high school drop out’, she earned her doctorate in education and became teacher, a principal, and leader at the USDE in Washington, DC.
Enrique Diaz: Arrived in the U.S. undocumented age 2, by age 6 he was a full-time migrant child farmworker. Enrique’s family moved often following the harvests. His family took shelter in abandoned buildings, and vacant mobile homes without running water, power or sewer. He studied at Cal Poly SLO. During his last year in college, Enrique was hired by Apple as an R&D scientist/engineer where he contributed to the development of pivotal Apple products such as the Bondi Blue iMac, the Cube, iPad, and MacBook Pro.
Raul Ruiz, MD, MPH, MPP: The son of immigrants, Raul grew up working in the fields with his family as a migrant child farmworker; at age 4, he had already decided he would become a doctor. Raul went on to attend UCLA and Harvard; He returned to his community an ER doctor and began working in emergency medicine. Now elected to the U.S. Congress, he advocates for safe and responsible child farm labor laws, accessible health care for underserved populations and an earned pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and their families.
Katherine Flores, MD: Katherine’s mother died when she was born. She was raised by her grandparents and grew up living in a tent with a dirt floor. She worked in the fields with her grandparents as a migrant child farmworker; attended Stanford and UC Davis Medical School; Associate Clinical Professor in Family Medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine; Director of the UCSF Fresno LatinoCenter for Medical Education and Research.