School of Medicine community gathers for National Latino Physician Day

In recognition of the event, leaders from the UCI School of Medicine and UCI Health Medical Center collaborated with the UCI Office of Belonging, Equity and Empowerment, the UCI School of Medicine mission-based Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community (PRIME-LC), the UCI School of Medicine Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA), the UC PRIME Pre-Health Pathways Program (UC3P), Chicanos Latinos for Community Medicine (CCM) and the UCI Health Latinx Physicians Outreach Group to honor the current and future physician leaders working toward increased representation in medicine … as 6% is not enough. 

For this year’s celebration, joint events were held at both the UCI Health Medical Center in Orange and on the UCI campus in Irvine. In Orange, attendees gathered outside of the hospital in the Healing Garden and received pins and information about the need for Latinos in medicine.

Pictured left to right: Beatrice Hernandez, UCI Health Business Development Office; Valery C. Vilchez Parra, MD; Michael Lopez, PhD; Rodney Mardirosian, UCI Health Business Development Office; Ailin Barseghian El-Farra, MD; and Eric Zuniga, MD. 

On campus, students met at the UCI Student Center and began a “Medical March,” to raise awareness. Along the way, faculty and physicians showed solidarity and joined in the march, which ended at the patio of the Medical Education Building.

“I am really grateful and honored to work alongside this amazing group of colleagues,” said Valery C. Vilchez Parra, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at UCI. “Let’s keep moving forward together!”

Pictured: Students, faculty and physicians take part in the 2024 Medical March as part of the National Latino Physicians Day. Photo by Steve Zylius.

Michael J. Stamos, MD, dean of the UCI School of Medicine, spoke with those gathered about the importance of this day and the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Over the course of three years, PRIME-LC students translated hundreds of health documents from English into Spanish regarding hand washing, wearing a mask, and safety and vaccine efficacy.

They also joined local Spanish radio programs to talk about some of the COVID-19 myths circulating during the pandemic and encouraged local community members to get their vaccine.

Pictured: Dean Michael J. Stamos, MD, speaking to students and faculty at the 2024 UCI Latinx National Physicians Day. Photo by Steve Zylius

“As a result of our Latinx and Spanish-speaking students and colleagues, we know that our Hispanic patients had 20% higher odds of completing COVID-19 testing,” said Dean Stamos . “In addition, our Latinx patients had 53% greater odds of receiving support service referrals if they were interviewed by a Spanish-speaking contact tracer. “

Kevin Caceres, a second-year medical student, and Trinidad Alcala-Arcos, also a second-year medical student, spoke about their family upbringing and path to medical school.

“Being the first in my family to go to college, first to go to medical school — I did it a lot for them but also for my community,” said Caceres.

Wrapping up the event, Orange County Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley encouraged students and faculty to stay the course and join all areas of medicine, population health and government as Latinx representation is vital throughout the state.

Pictured: OC Supervisor Katrina Foley. Photo by Steve Zylius.

With the focus of the day on the lack of Latinx physicians, unfortunately, the disparity is expected to grow even larger as California’s Latino population is projected to grow to 50% by the year 2050.

The lack of representation contributes to significant healthcare barriers, inequalities and poorer outcomes in the Latino/Hispanic population, according to doctors.

NBC4 Los Angeles and Telemundo also attended and covered this event. Read and view their coverage. 

View more photos from National Latino Physician Day on Flickr.