When I was a little boy, I wanted to be a “stork doctor,” because in Mexico it is the stork that brings babies to the world.
Some years later, I learned the word obstetrician and I started using it when people asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. My pathway was clear: I’d become an obstetrician, I’d do a master’s in genetics, and in my doctoral work I would find the cure for cancer. I’d marry my childhood love and we’d have six children, three pairs of twins, and we’d live in a house that I had designed in my head many times. I had a very vivid imagination, and I had the good fortune to grow up in an environment that allowed me to dream.
My life has been anything but linear, and I’ve lost count of the turns my path has taken. I almost dropped out of medical school while doing my OB/GYN rotation, as my instructor was a vulgar person who seemed to enjoy humiliating his patients. I finished my degree but did not pursue a residency.
Instead, I pursued further education and became an adjunct faculty in my medical school, hoping that I could become a better instructor than the one who broke my dreams. After a few years of teaching, I realized that the bigger problem in the health sector was that policy decisions that affected health services and medical education were made by people who were far removed from practice. I decided to obtain a degree in health policy and management, and become involved in making better health policy decisions.
Since then, I worked in health services administration, health policy and health education. I’ve worked in academia and I’ve worked in the community. I’ve been in advocacy and in program development. And during this time, I finally found my professional home in the American Public Health Association.
At APHA, I found colleagues who showed me new and different perspectives, and how to better articulate my thoughts to become a more effective advocate. It opened a larger world for me to find mentors and community, and to build lifelong friendships.
Through a series of fortuitous events, I was nominated to APHA’s Action Board. From there, I began to develop a better sense of the importance of the work we do at APHA. And 15 years later, I became the Association’s president.
If anyone had told me many years ago what my professional life would be like, I would have laughed my socks off. But I think it was precisely this unpredictable journey that prepared me for the job. So, the moral of the story for me is I am the product of all my mistakes and all my successes. There’s no one right path.
Although my ongoing cancer treatment will not allow me to be with you in Denver physically for APHA’s Annual Meeting, I look forward to connecting with you virtually.
As my term as president comes to its end, I want to express my deep gratitude for the honor to serve in this role, even in a virtual fashion. Thank you for sharing this journey with me.
Read and share this column in Spanish at www.thenationshealth.org.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association