2007-2008 Leadership

I was born in Colombia but spent most of my life in San Diego where I also majored in Bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego.  During my time at UCSD, I was a leader for the Flying Samaritans as well as Chicanos/Latinos for Community Medicine.  I also participated in basic science projects involving the role of BMPR2 in the development and progression of idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH).  Since beginning medical school at Stanford in 2005, I have continued developing my extracurricular interests with leadership positions in the Latino Medical Student Association as well as the Surgery Interest Group.  My research interests now focus on the design of biomedical devices as well as endothelial cell pathology.

I was born in San Francisco, and have resided in the Bay Area my entire life.  After going to high school in the East Bay, I attended Diablo Valley College and then transferred to UC Berkeley to major in molecular, cell biology. Throughout my undergraduate years, I did genome sequencing production work at the Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek.  Prior to entering medical school, I worked for two years doing pulmonary and critical care medicine research at UCSF, and continued running a mentoring program and teaching HIV awareness to teens in the Mission District of San Francisco. At Stanford, I have been doing research in the plastic surgery, specifically related to aging and wound healing. Additionally I have been working on a novel form of performing microvascular anastomoses in collaboration with Department of Chemical Engineering. Besides being fascinated with basic science research, I am committed to increasing access to health care and working with underserved communities of the South Bay.

I was born in Quito, Ecuador and grew up there until I was 9 years old. At that time I moved to Maryland and had been living there until coming to med school at Stanford. I attended University of Maryland, Baltimore County and earned a degree in Biochemistry. During college, I became interested in basic science research while conducting chemoreception research on insects and then went on to do prostate cancer research. Currently, I am a first year medical student at Stanford University. I am working on elucidating the role of telomerase in the development of medulloblastoma. This summer I will be working in an Orthopaedic research lab. I am interested in international health, surgery, oncology, pediatrics and biomedical research. I enjoy playing soccer, traveling, and spending quality time with my family. In the future, I hope to be able to be a practicing clinician in both Ecuador and the United States.

I grew up in Mexico City and moved to the U.S. for college. At Princeton, I majored in molecular biology and women studies- two subjects I have continued to explore ever since then. After college, I moved to San Diego where I worked in a cancer research lab for a year. During that time, I also trained as a doula to help pregnant women during their deliveries. I fell in love with California and decided to stay here for medical school. Stanford has offered the perfect environment in which to carry out my different interests. I have become involved with LMSA, Arbor Free Clinic and the Women and Medicine group, for which I will be co-president next year. In addition, I have been able to continue practicing yoga and horseback riding, which are two of my favorite activities.

I was born in Boston but grew up nearby in Davis, California, with frequent trips down to Lima, Peru to visit my extended family.  Went back to Massachusetts for school at Amherst College, and then Americorps in San Diego.  Then I headed down South for a PhD in epidemiology at the Univ. of North Carolina.  My grad work was in social and cardiovascular epidemiology, and here at Stanford I'm doing epidemiology research on melanoma pathways and early cancer detection, as well as lots of TA'ing in epidemiology. In the future I'm interested in doing more skin cancer research and continuing to work and teach in clinical epidemiology.

I was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California.  As the first in my family to go to college and to a professional school, I have encountered many challenges.  Yet I have had lots of fun navigating and taking advantage of the numerous opportunities that I have been so fortunately presented with.  I graduated from Stanford in 2005 with a BA in Human Biology and concentration in Women’s Health and Behavior.  After graduation, I lived in San Francisco and spent a year working at the Office of Community Health at Stanford.  Now a medical student at Stanford, I have enjoyed being: a class representative in the student government, manager at Arbor Free Clinic, TA for a Patient Advocacy class and a leader in several other student groups: Organization of International Health, Surgery Interest Group and SUMMA.

I was born and raised in East Los Angeles.   Moved to Nor Cal 4 years ago for Medical School.  My interests include outreach and underserved communities; so naturally I was drawn to LMSA since my first year of Medical School.  I've held several positions on the Regional board, including Northern CEO for 2 years.  Currently, I am the VP of Conference & Regional Programs and am also the Stanford MSR.  While at Stanford, I've also been involved with SUMMA and admissions.  I've served as an Arbor Manager, and continue to volunteer at the clinic on free weekends.  I am currently applying to Med-Peds residencies and can't wait to get back to L.A.

Veronica Ramirez is graduating from Stanford University in June 2007. She is working as a research interventionist for Project ECHALE, a youth obesity prevention research study led by Dr. Tom Robinson at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. She will be committed to this project for two years while also applying to medical school. Veronica first became involved in LMSA as a liaison for Stanford University Chicanos/Latinos in Health Education. She is excited to serve as the LMSA representative for the 2008 SUMMA Pre-Medical Conference!

Hi! The Diversity Admissions Panel (DAP) is committed to increasing the diversity of the medical school in terms of race, ethnicity, and economical backgrounds. We want to increase the number of under represented in medicine (UIM) students at Stanford. California generally, and Santa Clara County specifically, are comprised of significant numbers of low-income immigrants, minorities, and other disadvantaged patient populations.  I was born in Sonora, Mexico and grew up in San Diego.  My path to medicine has not always been easy, but the challenges give me a different perspective in life that enriches my interactions with patients. I graduated from Stanford University with degrees in the biological sciences (thesis in Molecular Pharmacology) and Spanish.  After graduating, I worked with non-native English speakers on their math and reading skills.  At Stanford Med, I am focused on the reproductive health issues of adolescents in juvenile detention centers in the San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.  On my down time, I like to play soccer, dance, and attend events around the area like Bay to Breakers.  I look forward to reading your application!

I was born in the only place in California more beautiful than the bay area -- San Diego -- and grew up in Chula Vista before coming to Stanford in 2001. After four years on the other side of campus studying engineering, I decided I couldn't leave a good thing and decided to come back for medical school. When I'm not volunteering at Arbor Free Clinic, I love playing basketball, watching movies, playing guitar, listening to Weezer, Ozma, Radiohead and Spanish Rock and just plain vegetating. Before medical school, I did computational chemistry research at UCSD and I am interested in studying medical imaging. In addition, as an undergraduate I was the Co-Chair of Stanford CHE (Chicanos-Latinos in Health Education) and am now the CHE Liaison for LMSA. I look forward to improving the communication and relationship between the undergraduates and the medical school.