A Match Made Indigenous: Celebrating Incoming Native Resident-Physicians

(as reported by Victor Lopez-Carmen in Forbes)

Every year on the third Friday of March, students in their final year of medical school find out what U.S. physician-residency programs they matched with. Amidst this anxious yet joyous occasion in a medical student’s life, Indigenous nations across the country are celebrating their community members who matched this last Friday, representing the rising generation of Indigenous physicians who will make lasting contributions to the health of Indigenous peoples. Esmeralda Marlene-Lopez is Mixteca from the San Sebastián del Monte and San Juan Huaxtepec Pueblos. She was born and raised in Yakima, Washington, received a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University in Health and Human Biology and Ethnic Studies, and is a medical student at the Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine.