For Nayeli Fuentes, MD, a family medicine resident in Tyler, Texas, the path to becoming a physician was a tough one. Her father worked three or four jobs so her family could make ends meet. They depended on the local food bank and their church for food and clothes. She said the struggles her parents went through motivated her to work hard toward her goal of becoming a physician.

“I remember my parents always just kind of avoided going to the doctor’s office unless we really needed to,” said Dr. Fuentes. When she and her siblings were sick, they shared antibiotics and other medications because they could not afford health care.

Now that she is a physician she works in clinics that help low-income families. In her conversation with TMA President Jayesh Shah, MD, in the Let Doctors Be Doctors podcast, she said her dream is to return to her hometown of Mount Pleasant to work as a physician there.

“I plan on going back. That’s always been the goal. I do hope that we can continue making a difference through TMA, my position as a physician, and the rest of the community to help bring in those resources that weren’t available when I was growing up in my hometown,” said Dr. Fuentes.

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