Personal Statement
Narrative description of patient care, teaching and administrative interests.
Throughout my career, I have demonstrated excellence in clinical, administrative, and teaching pursuits that exemplify the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center vision statement, “UNM HSC will work with community partners to help New Mexico make more progress in health and health equity than any other state by 2020.” My clinical practice has been built at Young Children’s Health Center, a multidisciplinary community-based Pediatric clinic whose mission is to provide family-centered, culturally sensitive, pediatric care to the La Mesa and Trumbull neighborhoods of the International District of Albuquerque. YCHC has been nationally recognized as a medical home model and is leading efforts to provide access to health care services and decrease health inequities by addressing social determinants of health. I have been an integral part of building this innovative practice. The majority of my patients are Spanish speaking and socially high risk, I am able to provide comprehensive, culturally sensitive pediatric care to my patients because I am bilingual in English and Spanish, have developed long-term relationships with patients and families for the past 19 years, and coordinate care with the multidisciplinary services available at YCHC and in the community. I have further demonstrated excellence in clinical practice by developing expertise in the care of high risk adolescents and providing comprehensive medical and mental health care to teens. I provide formal and informal consultation on adolescent patients for my colleagues at YCHC. In addition to providing adolescent care for YCHC patients, I have provided care for extremely high risk adolescent patients from New Day Shelter and Albuquerque Job Corps. Administrative leadership has included re-establishing and chairing monthly YCHC provider meetings, serving on the YCHC Medical Home Committee and organizing the first UNM Community Pediatrics retreat, held on September 13, 2014. And the annual General Pediatric Division retreats in 2015 - 2019.
I have been actively involved in the whole spectrum of pediatric medical education and have demonstrated excellence in education through frequent interactions with learners and long term commitments to multiple areas of medical education. In clinical settings, I have mentored high school students applying for the BA/MD program and premedical students, I precept 1st -4th year medical students, NP students, as well as, family practice and pediatric residents. I am the director of medical education at YCHC since 2015. I have been a facilitator in various small group learning settings for Phase I and II students. These currently include first year Doctoring I, II and IV courses, and Healer’s Art course. I previously facilitated Foundations of Clinical Practice for 1st year students and Diversity of Human Experience for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year students, pediatric tutorials for third year students, and Learning to Talk to Patients about Sex workshop for 2nd year students. I participated on the UNM SOM Admissions committee, 2010-2013. I was selected through a competitive process as a mentor for the new UNM SOM Learning Communities Program in 2014. I am the mentor for 5-10 students in the classes of 2020, 2021, 2022 and will add the class of 2024 in July, 2020. In this program I provide mentoring and academic coaching for students throughout their four years of medical school, attend weekly faculty training and develop curriculum for the Learning Communities program. I have participated on the Wellness Committee, a group of faculty and students at UNM who create the medical student Wellness curriculum, in 2014 and 2015. I am the current faculty Chair for the Learning Community student leadership group. I have taken the initiative to translate my clinical interest in underserved and high risk patients into teaching opportunities for students and residents across a variety of settings in order to teach awareness of social determinants of health and the importance of cultural humility to future medical providers in the ongoing effort to decrease health care disparities.
I have engaged in scholarly work related to my educational and clinical interests. I organized and facilitated bilingual “Transition to Middle School” information sessions for students entering 6th grade and their parents. I organized medical students from the Sex Education Interest Group to provide sex education for high risk adolescents at New Day Shelter. I initiated and organize monthly child/adolescent gynecology education sessions with Dr. Nancy Sokkary , child and adolescent gynecologist, and YCHC providers 2013. I have collaborated on a public history course for undergraduate students visiting from the University of West Florida and given presentations about social determinants of health and how YCHC delivers pediatric care to patients/families with multiple social risk factors; 2007, 2010. 2013. I initiated and chaired the committee that organized the first UNM Community Pediatrics retreat held September 13, 2014 and the annual General Pediatric Division retreats held each fall since 2015.
Present patient care activities
General outpatient pediatrics at YCHC. I see patients four half-day sessions per week and Saturdays
13 weeks per year. As stated above, patient population is low income and mostly Spanish speaking. Patients include increasing numbers of refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, since 2016. Faculty Practice Productivity data demonstrates productivity that is consistently above peer average.
I have a special interest in adolescent medicine and a large proportion of teen visits. I provide
comprehensive adolescent care including well adolescent care, family planning, screening and
treatment for STDs, evaluation and management for menstrual disorders, and mental health. I regularly consult with adolescent gynecology and mental health colleagues. I have led efforts to improve
adolescent care clinic wide by advocating for longer adolescent appointment times, use of mental health
screening tools, and establishing monthly gynecology information sessions.
Past patient care activities
Newborn Inpatient Service and Newborn Follow-up clinic, approximately 1 week per year 1998-2018, this included evaluation and management of near term or term stable infants, family education, and teaching of medical students and residents.
Albuquerque Job Corp Clinic - 4 hours per week May/June 2012, and intermittently during fall, 2012 and spring, 2013. I was recruited for coverage at AJCC by Alberta Kong, MD, the medical director,
because of my interest and experience working with adolescents. Job Corp is a Federal Program that
provides educational opportunities in a residential setting to low income youth. Albuquerque Job Corp
serves low-income, high risk youth coming from throughout New Mexico. Most who participate in Job
Corp have dropped out of high school or were at risk for dropping out, with limited financial and social
supports and past exposure to social risk factors accompanying poverty including poor academic
support, limitation of academic opportunities, substance abuse, teen pregnancy risk, obesity, and mental
illness. Job Corp’s program’s offer educational, medical, social, emotional, and substance use supports
to help participating youth break the cycle of poverty.
Provided comprehensive general pediatric care to youth staying at New Day Shelter, 2005-2009. New
Day is a short term shelter that serves extremely high risk adolescents who are runaways, have been
removed from their families by CYFD for abuse or neglect, or are voluntarily placed at the shelter by
families at times of crisis in order to initiate social work and mental health support services. Clients at
New Day come from throughout the state. New Day staff provided transportation to YCHC for
comprehensive adolescent care while staying at the shelter because many clients did not have an
established primary care provider or could not access their PCP easily while at the shelter.
General Pediatric Ward Inpatient Service one week per year 1999-2003. This included evaluation and
management of a variety of hospitalized pediatric patients, coordination of care and inpatient teaching
of medical students and residents.