Q. What is your favorite part about being Latina?
A. Having a community.
Q. What is your superpower?
A. Multitasking without getting overwhelmed.
Q. Tell me about a time that you were underestimated.
A. When I do donor surgeries in hospitals throughout the East Coast, I am often the last person the team expects to be the head surgeon. The way that it works for transplant surgeries is that when an organ becomes available, we go to procure it wherever the donor is. We go with our own team, and when we get there, there’s a local team and sometimes another transplant team that’s procuring a heart or lungs. It’s all teams that have never met each other, in a hospital that you’ve never been in before, with staff that’s never seen you before. Everybody goes into the room, introduces themselves, and signs paperwork to be able to start the donor surgery. And 90% of the time that I’ve gone to donor hospitals with my team, they will address everybody else in my team before acknowledging or understanding that I’m the head surgeon. I’m 5 feet, a woman, Latina, and I’m probably the last person they expect to take that liver out.
Q. Tell us about your background.
A. My family is from Ecuador. We moved to New Jersey when I was six years old. After a year of being here, my sister unfortunately was diagnosed with leukemia. She suffered from that for about 10 years, and during those years, my family was going back and forth between hospitals. That’s where I grew into wanting to do medicine. I wanted to become a pediatric oncologist because of my sister, but while I was in medical school, I realized I liked surgery. There were no doctors or surgeons in my family so I felt a little lost. I ultimately went into it based on how much I loved it when I was in it. Then, when I was training as a surgeon, I thought I would be a pediatric surgeon, again to honor my sister, but I really liked transplant surgery and decided that was my path.
Q. How do your parents feel about the journey that you’ve taken?
A. My parents are ecstatic, They’ve been through a lot. They came here from very high-earning jobs in Ecuador. They gave it all up to be here and worked hard to pay for my college and medical school. My dad is a waiter and my mom is a PCA- a patient care associate- in a hospital. They’re both beyond words proud and so supportive, and ridiculously overprotective- in a good way. It’s mostly pride driven.
Q. What exactly does a transplant surgeon do?
A. We are part of a huge group who works together to give somebody a second chance at life. There are a lot of things that happen between the moment that a person is listed for transplant and the moment they receive the organ. When someone is listed for transplant, it is because that is the only way to move forward and have another life.
Q. You now serve a primarily Latino community, how do you think you honor your heritage through your work? And how do your patients respond?
A. I just started at Columbia University as the first female transplant surgeon, and I also happen to be Latina. There are so many Spanish-speaking people where we are in Washington Heights, but not enough Spanish-speaking doctors, let alone Spanish-speaking transplant surgeons. One of my goals is to incorporate our language into the care that we provide. I just held a lecture in Spanish to prepare families for transplant ahead of their children receiving a life-saving organ. It made a huge difference for them to have that, as opposed to what we usually have- a lecture in English followed by a translated version. It’s also not only about language, it’s about values and morals and feeling understood at a vulnerable time in life.
Q. How does that ultimately change the outcome?
A. I recently had a patient who was very, very sick and who unfortunately passed away. But when it came time to make important end-of-life decisions, I was the one who had developed a relationship with the mom and spoke her language and was therefore able to give her an environment where she felt comfortable and understood to make decisions according to her values.
Q. You had to complete a lot of years of very demanding training. What are some things that helped you get through those years?
A. Having family close by was the most important thing. My husband is also a transplant surgeon; having his support has been priceless. When I go home and share difficult things with him, he doesn’t say, “Oh everything is going to be okay.” He instead sits with me and says, “Let’s go through everything. Let’s see what happened.” That has meant the world to me. Having mentors a few years ahead who support and elevate me has also been key.
Q. As you have advanced in your career, I’m curious if you’ve encountered the expectations placed on so many of us Latinas to settle down and start a family, and whether your plans for the future – whatever those may be – are something you can openly discuss at work.
A. I certainly get calls from my parents and aunts reminding me I’m getting older and asking when I will have children. But my husband is very supportive, he understands our job. We know at some point, we’re going to have to balance everything, and some things will have to be dropped to do the best you can at other things. At work, there’s so much to be done to improve the issues that many Latinas encounter in the workplace. I’m the only female in our transplant team, and there’s this expectation that you’re the same as the rest of the guys and not a lot of understanding about how you’re not. As I move forward, I want to start a family. Honestly, I don’t know how to have those conversations with my colleagues yet, because nobody else is having that same experience. And there hasn’t ever been, So, for me to have a family and balance that out is going to be a new thing for this team. I’m excited to define it but I’m also cautious.
Q. Who is someone else you think we should profile?
A. Mercedes Martinez is a liver specialist who has devoted her life to children with liver illnesses in the U.S. and abroad.