Scholars of Color- Jennifer Perdomo
What is Scholars of Color?
It is a platform in which scholars of color are purposefully celebrated. It’s a space where scholars of color are showcased front and center. It is a digital space where we feel empowered and resilient. Let us get to know each other. Let us cheer each other on AND show the world what we have to offer.
Let us now welcome Jennifer Perdomo to the Scholars of Color Space!
Name: Jennifer Perdomo
Gender Pronouns: she/her/hers
What do you currently do for work and/or school?: I am a 4th year medical student at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Currently applying for residency programs in Family Medicine.
Without positions or titles, how would you describe yourself?: Hardworking, compassionate, empowered, and silly.
What are you passionate about?: I am passionate about women's health, family planning, reproductive rights, serving my community, mentorship and pipeline programs to name a few. Women's health and advocacy is important to me because growing up I saw strong women lead and raise my family. Most of them are disillusioned with the medical field and do not trust physicians (which is valid with their personal experiences). I hope to empower my patients to take control of their personal health and be an ally on that journey, especially with the vulnerable nature of women's health. In regards to mentorship, most of us know that it takes a village. In my undergraduate experience I was at a primarily Latinx serving institution that had very minimal guidance for students entering healthcare and science technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. I was fortunate that a STEM grant was put in place during my time there and I became a mentor and went out to my community elementary to high schools and introduced these fields to many students. At the same time I gained mentorship and learned about programs such as the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) and MiMentor which allowed me to meet other Latinx pre-medical and medical professionals. I have continued to reach out to students regardless of their career goals as much as I can and hope to continue doing so throughout my career. These are few reasons why family medicine was my choice in specialty where it is so rooted in serving the community and allowing me to work with a broad range of patients who I may empower in different aspects of their lives while at the same time I can receive some extra training in women's health.
Why is the representation of scholars of color important to you?: As I mentioned earlier, I had little to no guidance at first during my undergraduate years, much less growing up in LAUSD. I had never met a Latinx health care provider, much less a physician. There were many times that I questioned my potential to make it here, but when I met the first Latinx medical student in my life I knew that I had a chance. When you don't see yourself or your family represented by the dreams you want to achieve it can seem almost impossible. Social media can be an exciting place because you find all these amazing scholars of color and get blown away by their success stories that you can share to empower our youth. With our current political climate this representation is an act of resistance to show that our actions speak louder than the words being thrown out about our people. And this is not just with scholars, but all of our POC who work tirelessly day in and day out in all the sectors of work.
If people are interested in getting connected to you, how can they?: I have Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perdomoj/ and e-mail: jenmperdomo@gmail.com. I try to limit social media for more personal use, but maybe I will consider creating a page that is more dedicated to scholarly work in the future. However, if you happen to find me on social media and you want to connect I won't ignore you! :)
Anything else you would like us to know?: Always stay true to yourself and remember your core values. This was very important to me in deciding my choice in specialty. I struggled with choosing between family medicine and Obstetrics/Gynecology (OB/GYN). OB/GYN being only women's health and a surgical field was appealing. I was enamored by the idea of being a surgeon, and I was scared that if I did not become one I would be a disappointment. I had to look deep down and reflect about who I wanted to be as physician. I respect the work of OB/GYN and believe they are amazing. However, I could not limit myself to helping my patients to only a certain extent. In addition, even though you can work with the community in any specialty, I love that it is so inherent in family medicine and that almost everyone you meet in this field is involved in some sort of service work outside of their clinic. At the end of the day, I realized that surgeon or not I am still going to be a physician who will serve her community to the best of her potential. It matters more what will fulfill you than how others will perceive your choices.
Lastly, never compare your journey to others. You are successful in your own ways, we all get to where we are one way or another. I experienced ups and downs. I started off college in remedial classes then worked my way to the top of my class. Then med school came and I felt like I had to start over again and I continue to learn how to be the best that I can be. There is no success without "failure", as my mom always reminds me "when you learned how to walk you fell, but you got back up every single time" and I continue to do that taking baby steps towards my success falling along the way but never giving up. Your steps however large or small will get you there too.
Thank you Jennifer for sharing space with us!
Stay tuned everyone for more Scholars of Color profiles. Interested in being showcased yourself? Please email the Scholars of Color team at scholarsofcolor@reclaimingyourhappiness.com and we will get back to you shortly.
