How do you define "community leadership"?

What would you tell someone who was considering going to medical school?

What is your favorite part Pittsburgh?

​Jose Miguel Juarez is a first-generation Guatemalan American born and raised in a single parent home in Paterson NJ, where he graduated as valedictorian of DePaul Catholic High School. He completed his bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics at the College of the Holy Cross where he graduated with honors and conducted Atomic and Laser Physics Research for which he was offered a research position at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena CA.

 

Mr. Juarez’s greatest passion is living, learning, and working directly among underserved populations and advocating fervently for their rights. Hence, after college he joined Teach For America and served as a high school teacher in a low-income Latino community in Houston TX and in a low-income African American community in Tunica MS. After TFA, he moved to Spring Hill FL and worked in a medically-underserved community as a coordinator of medical services for Crescent Community Free Clinic. Today, here in Pittsburgh, he volunteers as a paramedic for Operation Safety Net, a team bringing medical services directly to the homeless in the streets and under the bridges of Pittsburgh. He is also a coordinator and medical translator for SALUD – Clinica Gratuita, a free clinic committed to helping our Spanish-speaking community. Currently, Mr. Juarez is a third year medical student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where he founded the UPittMed chapter of the national Latino Medical Student Association. His area of concentration is Global Health and Underserved Populations, and his area of research is pediatric otolaryngology at UPMC’s Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

 

Mr. Juarez’s passion and commitment to both academics and community service has been recognized nationally by the American Medical Association Foundation and Alpha Sigma Nu, the National Jesuit Honor Society. In 2015, he was named a National Minority Scholar. He was also a recipient of the National Magis Medal. He has also been recognized at the city level by the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Gateway Medical Society, and Café con Leche. He is one of the recipients of this year’s PMAHCC Scholarship as well as the GMS Academic Achievement and Community Service Award. He is also one of the 2015 FUERZA! Latino Making a Difference in Pittsburgh Award winners. At the school level, he received the 2016 Blue Star Community Service Award from the University of Pittsburgh and the 2016 Sally Miller Award for Advocacy on Behalf of the Medically Underserved by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

 

Motivated by these experiences, Mr. Juarez is determined to continue learning, serving, and helping to reduce health disparities here in Pittsburgh, and throughout our country. As a doctor, he will continue volunteering and advocating passionately for all who do not have access to health care.