Featured Speakers
Lisa Ramirez, EdD – A migrant child farm laborer, she was kicked out of high school for punching the principal. Dr. Ramirez earned her doctorate in education and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Programs in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education. In this role, she oversaw a broad range of management, policy, and program functions. She currently serves as the Director of the Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement (OPPE) at the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC. Lisa is also the author of Dulcified: Sweetened by the Education of Life, for which she received the International Latino Book Award.
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. 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.
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, or vacant mobile homes. They didn’t have 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.
Anna M. Caballero – Born to a family of copper miners from Arizona. She’s a graduate of UCLA law school and UC San Diego. Anna was the first female Mayor elected in the 126-year history of the City of Salinas and the first Latina elected to represent the 28th Assembly District in 2006. Now a California State Senator Anna M. Caballero and has authored key pieces of legislation like the Middle Class Housing Act (SB 6), to help families achieve the dream of home ownership, legislation that ensures locally grown, quality produce for California students (SB 490), and the Distressed Hospital Loan Program (SB/AB 112), to keep struggling hospitals from closing their doors.
Fernando S. Mendoza, MD, MPH – The son of an immigrant farmworker; Fernando studied medicine at Stanford and Harvard – Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Dean of Diversity at Stanford School of Medicine. He was told that he could not become a doctor due to his background. It turns out that he couldn’t become just a doctor. Not only did he become a pediatrician, but he’s also recognized for the teaching of medicine, research, and many publications on health policy concerning Hispanic populations, health care equity, and the dearth of diversity among medical educators.
Blanca E. Rubio –Blanca arrived in the U.S. with her family as an undocumented child. She and her family were deported 2 times while she was young. Blanca eventually became a U.S. citizen; she went to school in inner-city Los Angles, attended college and became a teacher and student advocate. She was elected to the California State Assembly where she advocates for the safety of teens and women facing domestic violence, seeks resources to support dreamers and all underserved student populations including foster youth. Blanca believes her success will encourage other undocumented boys and girls that they too can triumph or the obstacles they face too.
Tony Cárdenas – Grew up in a large family living in a working class neighborhood in Los Angeles, California; his immigrant parents finished only first grade; Tony and his ten siblings all earned advanced degrees; Tony is an elected member of the U.S. Congress where he advocates for more opportunity and support for Latinos interested in STEM careers and is pushing for new legislation to bolster children’s health care.
Esteban G. Burchard, MD, MPH – Raised by a single mom in a tough barrio of San Francisco; Esteban studied at Stanford and Harvard – he became a highly-acclaimed research scientist who has authored hundreds of scientific papers published in the New England Journal of Medicine. He’s a UCSF Distinguished, Endowed, Tenured Professor of Pharmacy and Medicine as well as a Pulmonary & Critical Care Physician-Scientist trained in Genetics, Immunology, Epidemiology, Pharmacogenetics, and phase 1 clinical trials.
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; defying his guardians who would not allow him to attend college, he studied at UC Santa Cruz and UCI Medical School; became a pediatrician and returned to the area where he grew up and is serving as a doctor and role model for children like he once was.