The pediatrician works in the care of migrants out of a vocation for service.
Dr. Marietta Vazquez, Professor of Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectologist and Associate Dean of the Yale School of Medicine. Photo: Provided by Dr. Vazquez to the Journal of Medicine and Public Health.
Today Dr. Marietta Vázquez is a professor of Pediatrics and pediatric infectologist and Associate Dean of the Yale School of Medicine, but her beginnings were from a very young age, thanks to what she defines as an admiration for her pediatrician who never inspired fear in her. .
“I was not afraid to go to the doctor, my pediatrics was very friendly. From a very young age I knew I wanted to be a doctor, I always liked science. Since I was little I admired my pediatrician, I liked the specialty and the fact that a person arrives with pain, and will find a professional who could find the solution, ”she said excitedly to the Journal of Medicine and Public Health.
He specified that medicine has many beautiful and satisfying aspects, but pediatrics focuses on prevention and that attracted him, since health should be a priority. However, he knows of the challenges he faces, serving a Hispanic community in the United States.
“One of the areas in which I work and I am proud to serve migrant patients, I have a clinic for them. Many of those stories are difficult and traumatic, but what you do is that you take something very hard and emotional, I turn it into motivation for that area, to advocate for children who cross the border alone, ”she recounted.
One aspect that he finds especially difficult is that within his medical management he always gives the best at a clinical level, but he knows that on many occasions children will not be able to count on adequate treatment due to lack of money from their parents or because they work. a lot and there is no one to help fulfill the recipe.
“That’s where it doesn’t matter how much you do, everything falls apart,” she said, and that’s why she feels motivated to give her best for the benefit of children and young people, because in her opinion “the patient is not just a symptom, he is a complete being.”
Patient experience that marked his life
Dr. Vázquez, reported that between the ages of 15 and 16 she was a patient due to an important operation that had to be performed on her foot, but everything went wrong and she could not walk for two years, this fact in particular made her rethink whether or not she should study medicine.
“It was a strong moment because my ideal of medicine fell. That was where I understood that it is difficult to be patient, that was a turning point. At the end of the road if I continue to find health professionals who taught me to continue with my health. They taught me the human part, ”she expressed.
She remembers that experience as interesting, due to the process she had to recover, since the reconstructive surgeon took part of her skin and rebuilt her foot, a fact that marked her because she had a friendly relationship with him and understood that medicine was his passion.
Studies in Puerto Rico
The pediatric infectologist studied at the Medical Sciences Campus in the early 1990s, when the HIV epidemic was booming, and there she found stories that made her impetus for research and pediatric infectology grow.
At that time, his first patient was a 7-year-old boy, who died two weeks later due to HIV. “And what he did was motivate me to investigate more and the importance of medical research. The fabulous training in Puerto Rico”.
He stressed that he recognizes in his 29-year career that all cases have their difficulties, because he has also differentiated himself from his colleagues.
“I am a crybaby and emotional, once in a psychiatric evaluation I cried with a patient, and my mentor told me that I would not become a good doctor, and over the years I understood that this does not make me a bad doctor, but that I empathize with them “, said.
Teaching and Medicine at Yale
Teaching was something gradual and organic, for the specialist, who recognizes that she has found a home away from home, although luckily, as she herself describes it, where she works there is a large Latino community that she serves.
“This is a beautiful field and there is no greater satisfaction than being in the health field. It’s hard to think about it, seek help, mentoring is important. Learn from your mistakes, and don’t think you have to be the same as others. There is a great need for Hispanics, because more people are needed to understand the process”, she concluded.