Jennifer Juarez

My name is Jennifer Juarez, and I am a biology and Spanish major with a minor in chicano and latino studies. My interest in healthcare arose after seeing disparities in access to healthcare in my community and witnessing serious illnesses in my family go untreated due to the lack of access in our household. I love to participate in opportunities that examine, analyze and address healthcare issues among medically underserved communities. Since December, I have been a peer health leader at the wellness center in my neighborhood in San Francisco. I am committed to improving my own community’s holistic health by co-developing a spectrum of health prevention programs on topics such as physical exercises and healthy eating. To accomplish our goal, we currently do a sports event for children and provide samples of vegetable and fruit smoothies that make the healthy choice of eating easy and accessible at the food bank. Additionally, I am planning a health fair and a lecture on diabetes.

During summer of 2017, I also conducted community based-research at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute-UCSF Center for Health & Community. As a research assistant and experimenter of a quantitative study, I examined the effects of food insecurity stress on eating behaviors in children and parents. I had the opportunity to view health from the perspective of patients as I heard about their experiences with food insecurity. During the Fall of 2017, I conducted a qualitative research in a primary care facility. The results suggest that efforts to improve the quality of physician comprehension by Spanish-speaking Latino patients in primary care settings is still needed. As a Latina woman, I learned I am able to advance diversity in the medical field and increase efficient physician-patient interaction. Currently, I am a Diversity Officer for the Pre-Health Club, and I am passionate to serve as a mentor to pre-health minority students to increase their matriculation to health profession schools. The challenges I have faced include learning to navigate college as a first generation student. At first, it can be intimidating to attend a professor’s office hours and to adjust to the curriculum.

Yet, the greatest feeling comes from embracing challenges and exceeding my own expectations. I have been honored to be on the Dean’s list for earning a 4.0 GPA for the past three years. The positive experiences I have had at SSU are having a supportive environment from professors, programs and friends who genuinely care about my success. Thanks to my Spanish professor’s encouragement, I studied abroad in Madrid, Spain. Finally, I will always treasure my chemistry professor’s words, “You are the limit.” I realize if I want to attain my goals, nothing can stop me. My future goal is to continue to advocate and improve the lives of those who suffer by following a MD/ MPH route. I want to improve the laws that affect my community’s access to primary care and treatment while having a well-rounded physician serve them.