Lucila beuses

Lucila as a medical student

Pronouns: She/Her

Lucila as a child

• What kind of identities do you inhabit?

  I was born in Valencia, Venezuela, and mostly grew up in Katy, Texas. I consider my Hispanic heritage an important part of my identity and believe this enhances my ability to connect with patients of similar backgrounds.

• The path to medicine is not easy. Can you tell us why you decided to pursue it?

  As an undergraduate student, I majored in biochemistry and was looking to pursue a career to apply my knowledge and be involved with my community. Therefore, I pursued many volunteer and shadowing opportunities in the health care field. One of my most meaningful experiences was as a college volunteer at the Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital, where I transported patients and helped obtain vital signs in the ED. I was exposed to many roles within the health care field, and recognized their importance within the patient care team. Ultimately, I chose to pursue the path to becoming a physician to develop expertise in a specialty and have a wide scope of practice.

• Can you describe a challenging moment in medicine that made you rethink your career path?

  A very challenging time in medical school for me was the transition from pre-clerkship classes to clerkship rotations. I had a difficult time changing the way that I studied and balancing my time studying after working for 12 hours. Clerkships are truly the time when you see what medicine is all about and get a peek into what residency will be like. During this time, I questioned why I chose to go into medicine because it was a hard transition for me. However, the moments where I found joy in patient interactions and the moments where I finally understood a concept were the things that encouraged me to keep going. Also, asking for help from friends and those who had been through clerkships already helped me learn how to manage my time better and feel better. Overall, I am grateful to have passed through this difficult time because it has made me a stronger person, student, and future doctor.

• How do you see a career in PM&R as advancing equity? Or alternatively - why are you interested in this organization? Why equity and PM&R?

  I see this organization as having two main missions. One mission is to expose more people, specifically those of UIM, to PM&R. This is important, because there is a scarcity of people from these backgrounds in the field of PM&R, which can be a disservice to certain patient populations. The second mission of this organization is to bring light to certain patient populations within PM&R that are often overlooked, like patients with long-term COVID-19 complications. By tackling these missions at the same time, the organization is addressing many of the same issues in medicine in different ways. I joined this organization to help continue to move the field of PM&R forward and to improve the care of the diverse population of patients in the U.S.

• Can you tell us a little bit of your aspirations - either for your career or for the field of medicine (if you’re a medical student?)

  I hope to be a PM&R physician that takes care of a diverse patient population, with the ability to effectively care for the Spanish-speaking population. I also wish to be involved in academia and mentor those that would like to go into the medical field and, more specifically, the field of PM&R.

• Find me on social media

  Twitter - @libeuses

Last updated 8/2023