I was born and raised in the Little Village neighborhood, in the southwest side of Chicago, where my parents settled in after immigrating from Mexico. I did my undergraduate work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where I majored in Cell and Structural Biology. I attended Medical School at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I completed my residency in the very hospital where I was born, Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
After residency, I worked at a few federally qualified health centers. I saw first-hand how my relatively young patients were being diagnosed with diabetes and chronic illnesses, especially those plagued by obesity. I wanted to help in this battle and opened my own Nutrition and Wellness office, NutriMedicos, in 2012. After my daughter was born, I elected to close my office and joined Advocate Aurora Health, where I have been working full time for the last 5 years.
Even though I had to close my office, I still have the passion to help patients in a more holistic manner and teach patients about diet, supplements, and mind-body techniques in my current practice.
Why I became a doctor? I was always sick as a child with the common childhood illnesses, measles, mumps, even though I was fully vaccinated against these illnesses. At the age of 5, I was hospitalized with serious complications caused by Chicken Pox, and my doctors weren’t sure if I was going to survive. I saw how tirelessly they worked to help me recover through this illness. It was at this moment, I knew all I wanted was to be a Doctor. Initially, I wanted to be a pediatrician since I wanted to help sick children. Instead, I chose family medicine as I love the variety of the specialty.
What brings me satisfaction in working as a doctor is being able to help people with more natural options and reversing patients’ chronic diseases. I love seeing patients leave the office happy after they have improved their metabolic numbers and leave with less medicines that they need to take.
When I am not working, I love spending time with my 5-year-old daughter and my husband. We love to watch Broadway Musicals in downtown or watch movies at home. In addition, I love to travel by land and sea, having done several cruise ship trips. We usually visit the coastal Mexican town of Puerto Vallarta once a year, where we had our destination wedding in 2014. Our next trip on the agenda is returning to Italy. Then Dubai when I turn 50. I also love to relax by doing some yoga, jogging and crafting.
My favorite Chicago neighborhood is the one we live in, Pilsen. The area is a close-knit community within a big city. It is full of culture and traditions that I hope my daughter will continue to follow as she grows up.