Dianelis Lopez, MD Student

I was born in Cuba. I immigrated to Miami, Florida with my family when I was 10, and lived in Miami until the end of high school. I moved to Boston for college, and after that, I went to Brazil for one year as a Fulbright Scholar. I stayed for another year for a Harvard-funded research project, then moved to Stanford right after.

I feel like Cuba is known as a place that has a very good health care system: it’s free, it’s not that well-resourced, but it’s accessible. The number of doctors per capita is one of the highest in the world. I grew up hearing a lot about medical internationalism and missionary programs because that’s one of the government’s main sources of revenue. During COVID, Cuba sent doctors all over the world to places in high need at the time. It’s not a very well-compensated career in Cuba, but a lot of the people do it purely because of vocation. In the US, the doctors often live in areas and are in tax brackets separate from their patients — in Cuba, that’s not the case at all. You’ll see a doctor living in the same exact block as the patients they’re treating. Cuba also emphasizes what they call polyclinicals, which is having one physician who takes care of a specific geographical area; it gives a more longitudinal nature of care. Those were my introductions to healthcare and the humanitarian side of things.

Moving to the US, the biggest shift for me was seeing how healthcare wasn't super accessible because it is so expensive and not everyone has insurance. Navigating the healthcare system can be quite complicated: it's not like you have a physician coming to your house and checking people in your block. You have to go out of your way to transport yourself to medical facilities and ask for care and to know how to explain your symptoms to be able to advocate for yourself. I was seeing the difference between a place that has more resources than Cuba, but then the accessibility was somehow lower, which seemed a little bit paradoxical in my head.

One of my projects as a medical student is strengthening relationships between Stanford and Brazil. I’m working with another student from my class to establish partnerships with research organizations, hospitals, and medical schools. I want to make it easier for international collaborations between different labs and for students to be able to go abroad for the summer. We’re working with the Center for Innovation and Global Health, mostly under Dr. Michele Barry. 

A lot of my family doesn't speak English. Seeing them have difficulties when it comes to speaking to a provider that is only fluent in English, and having to use their broken English to try to communicate: those experiences stayed with me. I visit Miami often to see my family, so they’ll schedule their medical appointments when I’m there.

Seeing this has definitely influenced the way I approach talking to patients who either aren't fluent in English or only speak Spanish, like when I'm volunteering here at a Cardinal Free Clinic. I try to think in my head: Okay, what if my mom spoke a language that no one else in the room did? With what level of care would I want them to treat her?

About the author

Catherine Wu is an undergraduate student at Stanford University interested in biology and the humanities. On campus, she enjoys writing for The Stanford Daily and other ways to learn and share stories of members in her community. She hopes to pursue a graduate or medical degree on a pre-med track.