Our Vision, Mission, and Goals Our Team
Peer Engagement and Enrichment Program 2017 PEEP Cohort Our Members

BIG THINGS HAVE DETERMINED BEGINNINGS...

Informally co-founded by three undocumented youth in the San Francisco Bay Area, Pre-Health Dreamers was formed out of the need for answers in their personal pursuits of higher education at the graduate and medical levels. Angel, Denisse, and New have paved their own paths throughout college and have leveraged each person’s expertise in skillful advocacy, networking, and community-building to build a community, resource, and forum. The varied but unique backgrounds and perspectives of each individual contribute to the ambitious mission of Pre-Health Dreamers.

 

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Angel

Ph.D. Candidate - University of California, San Francisco

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New

M.D. Student - University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
MPH - Harvard University

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Denisse

M.D. Student - Mount Sinai, Icahn School of Medicine
MPH Student - Harvard University

Our Stories

 

From Pre-Health to Medical Residency: Undocumented Trailblazers

For the first time in our history we were able to host a panel with PHD members representing the different stages in the journey to becoming a practicing doctor. Our panel includes an undergraduate student, a medical student and a medical resident.

 

What Will Happen to Undocumented Doctors

“DACA is ‘tied to so many opportunities, to take it away with a stroke of a pen is heartbreaking.’”

- Denisse Rojas

What Will Happen to Undocumented Doctors? is a short film by the Atlantic that goes over the conseuquences for medical students and interns if DACA is rescinded. Denisse Rojas, Jirayut New Latthivongskorn, Marina Di Bartolo, Cesar Montolongo are a few of the undocumented medical and residents students who lives have been positively impacted by the creation DACA. Due to this policy, they have been able to get into medical school and have the possibility of working as doctors. Working to be doctors, these individuals are working to address the shortage the needs of medically underserved populations and improve healthcare in the United States. If DACA were to be rescinded, the career prospects


For administrators of these medical schools, it is difficult of enough to get the university to fund the education of undocumented medical students. It will only become more difficult if the possibility for work is taken away by the rescission of DACA. 

 

Medical School 'Dreamers' Face Uncertainty With Trump

"You can have someone in a hospital serving patients but take it all away with one signature."

- Katharine Gin

In the short film Medical School 'Dreamers' Face Uncertainty With Trump by the Wall Street Journal, Jirayut 'New' Latthivongskorn recounts the current problem that undocumented medical students face. The film touches on DACA and how it helps undocumented immigrants aspiring to be health professionals. The film also explains the current threat facing these undocumented immigrants by the Trump Administration, the threat of DACA being terminated and what that means for the students with DACA. Dreamers are facing another challenge, facing the uncertainty of the Trump Administration and its proposal to end DACA. 

 

Dreamers to Doctors

“I want to make sure families like mine… can stay intact, can continue to provide for their kids and give them that future that they came to this country for.”

- Aime Castillo Mazantini

Dreamers to Doctors is a short film that focuses on four undocumented youth who are aspiring to become health professionals. The film shares their immigration stories, their motivations for pursuing a career in the health profession, the barriers they have faced along their journeys, and the opportunities that exists.

The film touches upon the Affordable Care Act that has enabled more people to obtain health coverage including many people who are immigrants with limited English Proficiency. Dreamers to Doctors highlights the need for culturally diverse doctors and how undocumented youth can help address the shortage of healthcare professionals—particularly primary care doctors—to meet the needs of the newly insured.

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Our Work

 
 
 

Key Resources

 

ERAS MEMO TO RESIDENCY PROGRAM DIRECTORS
Letter addressed to medical residency program directors in relation to DACA medical students.

HEALTH CAREER PATHWAYS CHART
This chart explores the different health professions career pathways, namely Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, and Pharmacy, outlining the institutional obstacles and opportunities at various stages of the journey.

MEDICAL SCHOOL FOR UNDOCUMENTED STUDENTS
Frequently asked questions about and answers about medical school for pre-med undocumented students across the nation.

PHD MEDICAL SCHOOL FAQ GUIDE
We created this document in order to answer questions that may come up when you are considering your path into medicine.

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ICYMI: Pre-Health Dreamers was honored by @americanfederationofteachers at their biennial convention and received the Bayard Rustin Human Rights Award alongside @unitedwedream and @undocublack for our work in uplifting and supporting undocumented communities. Thank you AFT for this great recognization!