6.5 What recommendations does Ángel have for a student interested in public health?
For readers who might be interested in pursuing a career in public health, we asked Ángel for his recommendations. What can students do now that will get them a leg up as they apply for grad school or look for positions in the world of public health?
Transcript: “Uh, what I will tell to students that are interested in my line of work is that I will ask them to be, uh, get more exposed to community service activities so they can find their niche, understand where they want to help, where they want to make a difference. And but also, I will ask them to find research-related opportunities. When I was a student in college, I had the opportunity to study belugas, to um, visit them and understand their behaviors. And through that experience, I realized I wanted to study social behaviors or anything related to behavioral changes. Then I also participated in volunteer income tax opportunities for those who were unable to do their taxes on their own. Um, and it was a crucial experience because, as a bilingual speaker, I was one of the few bilingual speakers there able to help. And there were cases that, where I was unable to help and they had to turn people away because there were not enough Spanish-speaking staff in there to assist. So, uh, with all the experience, I was able to generate empathy within myself and try to do, um, to find work, a job, that reconciled both of those aspects, the research-curious aspect and the community-service aspect. And most, most of, most institutes look for that. They want to see that you’re interested in research, that you have a strong background in research, and they want to know that you care, that you care about the job that you’re doing, and that you care that it’s going to provide greater results for the community. Um, so, but also, when you work with different identities, with different languages, in these institutes, it’s always important to be open about how, your Spanish, about using it, because that generates a different point of view that can be shared, that can generate creativity for different strategies that are crucial for research studies. Um, it helps you to be more reliable with other, with other participants. It can help you generate better communication styles or be open to discuss with or recruit people that can only speak just one language. Um, those are my most important reasons of why I use it.”
Ángel has worked with people from all over the world, with colleagues originally from Asia, Europe and South America. He finds they bring different perspectives in neurological sciences and brain changes, contributing knowledge and solutions that may not emerge in a more homogeneous conversation, and this diversity of voices tends to result in more accurate diagnoses when discussing cases. As a Peruvian, Ángel’s knowledge of the Spanish language and cultural practices has also facilitated dialogue with Spanish-speaking patients, recruiting them to participate in the San Antonio Heart and Mind Study, on the one hand, and helping them find the right doctor for their ailments, on the other. Ángel serves as a model of how diverse linguistic and cultural knowledge can result in better study results and referral opportunities for Spanish-speaking participants in San Antonio.
