Graduate Believes Language Shouldn't Be a Barrier to Health Care

Alex Cortez, 26, finds it pretty exciting to see his progression from medical student to resident. He will be staying at UC to complete his residency in general surgery. He is currently interested in pediatric and colorectal surgery and plans to remain in academics where he can stay involved in teaching and serve as a mentor.

Alex, a native of Ohio, wasn't planning to relocate to Cincinnati when he applied to medical school. But a visit to the College of Medicine during interview day helped seal the deal. The graduate of Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI) liked what he saw.

"I really liked the professors I met on interview day," said Cortez. "I went to a smaller college, and I really felt comfortable in a smaller learning environment. Cincinnati did have that smaller feel and the professors seemed approachable. I interviewed on the Diversity Interview Day set up by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and got connected with the diversity office early on and it helped me stay connected."

It was a member of that office who approached Cortez prior to matriculation and asked him if he would like to start a UC chapter of the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA).  

"I thought, 'I don't know,'" said Cortez, who is Mexican-American. "I'm half Mexican, my mom is Caucasian. We didn't grow up speaking Spanish," said Cortez, noting he began to explore issues of ethnicity while studying abroad in college.

He considered becoming a doctor while in high school, but it was really because the profession sounded impressive and he wanted to pay his parents back for working so hard to send him to private school. He didn't speak Spanish, but decided in college he really wanted to.

"With a name like Cortez everyone thought I spoke Spanish, but I didn't. I thought 'I have got to learn Spanish' so I studied Spanish and education for two years, but while I was in Honduras studying abroad, I realized I could communicate, but I didn't really have a skillset to help the people I was around," said Cortez.

"That brought back the idea of health care and medicine and being able to treat and help people," he said.

His experiences collided at UC when Cortez and fellow medical student, Aynara Chavez Wulsin, worked with Christy O'Dea, MD, associate professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, to create the Medical Spanish and Latino Health Elective (MSLHE).

This was the college's first three-year longitudinal elective, which means it spans the first three years of medical school. It involves simulated patient encounters with Spanish-speaking standardized patients, frequent service learning experiences, evening didactic sessions and an intensive four-week medical Spanish language instruction.

"There are a lot of medical students who are interested in medical Spanish," said Cortez, noting the Latino presence in Cincinnati may be small, yet growing, while the population nationally is outstripping the supply of doctors trained to provide care.

Cortez said his involvement with LMSA allowed him to hold a leadership position at the regional level and try his hand at organizing, fundraising and networking. LMSA involvement offered some skills not gained through medical textbooks.

"It was really good experience," said Cortez.

He also suggested that incoming medical students keep an open mind as they enter medical school. Initially, Cortez considered becoming a family medicine physician.

"I think of my story, and I thought I knew what I wanted to do and then I got an interest for something else," said Cortez. "Someone introduced me to surgery and my path in medical school completely changed.  See what your options are in terms of specialty. As a pre-med student you think, 'I want to be a doctor.' But that question doesn't really make sense once you're here. You will become a doctor, now you have to ask what kind of doctor?"