‘You clipped your wings to let us fly’

When Gabriela  López underwent open-heart surgery at age 12, no one prepared her for the agonizing pain she would suffer afterward. Once she awoke from anesthesia, she was terrified to see a thick tube protruding from her chest and to feel staples under her skin.None of her surgeons had explained the procedure in Spanish to her parents, who had immigrated from Mexico City. L ópez, who was born in the U.S., often served as her parents’ translator.That experience propelled L ópez, now 31, to pursue a career in medicine. The new graduate of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA is eager to become a pediatrician who understands Latino culture and can speak to her young patients and their parents in Spanish.When her UCLA classmates chose L ópez to deliver the student speech at commencement, she embraced the opportunity to represent the most ethnically diverse class in the school’s history.► Watch Telemundo’s story aboutGabriela  López (in Spanish)On June 4, L ópez sat at her family’s kitchen table in her cap and gown, took a deep breath and gazed into her laptop monitor during the livestreamed ceremony.“I would like to honor our families who speak Spanish and thank them for their unwavering faith,” she said.In Spanish, L ópez continued to address the parents in the audience, as her own mother and father wiped tears from their eyes.“Para nuestros padres, gracias por sacrificar sus sueños para dejarnos cumplir el nuestro. Salieron de sus países, y...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news