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.
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.
Fernando S. Mendoza, MD, MPH: He is 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.
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.