In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the Georgetown University School of Medicine’s Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) is holding a series of events to celebrate Hispanic traditions and raise awareness about racial disparities in healthcare.

Led by co-Presidents Jacqueline Pujol (MED ’25) and Alexia Mendivil (MED ’25), LMSA’s month of programming includes information sessions on the effect of diabetes on Latinx health, a heritage festival at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, a health fair, a panel on Hispanic folk remedies and a Latin dance night.

Mendivil said she hopes events like these will help make Latinx medical students feel welcomed. 

“Our mission statement is to encourage Latina, Latino and Latinx students to pursue medicine, to advocate for increased representation of Latino physicians and to improve the health of the Hispanic community in the DMV area,” Mendivil said in an interview with The Hoya.

A central focus across LMSA’s efforts is developing cultural competence among the next generation of physicians currently studying at Georgetown, according to Pujol. This month, LMSA began its Hispanic heritage programming with a session on the gaps in health care professionals’ understanding of diabetes, specifically for Latinx patients. 

Diabetes disproportionately affects Hispanic or Latinx individuals — the percentage of Hispanic adults with diabetes is 80% higher than that of non-Hispanic whites, due in part to sociocultural factors like access to healthcare, income inequality and language barriers.

A key message of the event was the importance of integrative treatment, which consists of partnerships among primary physicians, endocrinologists and dieticians to provide holistic care, according to Pujol.

When planning LMSA’s panels, Pujol said it was important to find speakers who were representative of the populations being served.

“Our first priority was finding physicians who were of Hispanic origin, of Latinx origin, who spoke Spanish. And the endocrinologist that we recruited from Arizona, he is known for promoting Latino health, especially with diabetes,” Pujol told The Hoya. “The other physicians that we recruited were from MedStar, and they also were Latinx origin. So that was basically our priority.”

Pujol said Latinos are underrepresented in the field of medicine, as Latinos make up almost 19% of the total U.S. population but account for only 7% of physicians and surgeons in the United States.

Daniela Hernandez (MED ’26), a first-year medical student, said she decided to enroll at Georgetown in part because of LMSA’s outreach.

“One of the reasons why I chose Georgetown was because of the LMSA Cafecito Hours and the community I found there,” Hernandez said. “It was those things that I did not find anywhere else that compelled me to attend Georgetown.”

As part of their dedication to greater inclusion, LMSA members have personally reached out to over a hundred potential incoming Hispanic students like Hernandez to offer to answer questions about the school, according to Mendivil.

“One of our biggest efforts has been calling and emailing, meeting up with prospective students who got accepted to Georgetown and are interviewing at Georgetown,” Mendivil said. “We’re really determined with our goals to keep increasing the representation of the Latinx students at our school.”

According to Casey Sheahan, associate director of admissions at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, LMSA helps welcome Latinx accepted students to the medical school and support them during their time at Georgetown. 

“Many of the members are Student Ambassadors, which is a role where they interact with applicants throughout the application process,” Sheahan wrote to The Hoya. “Some of the students that made calls last year are now friends/very close with the applicants that they called that are now in the M1 class!”

Isela Melendez-Carpio, director of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at the Georgetown University School of Medicine said the DEI office is excited to collaborate with LMSA throughout Hispanic Heritage Month.

“The momentum has grown over the past few years, a huge testament to our Latinx students for paving the way for future generations,” Melendez-Carpio wrote to The Hoya. “This year’s programming reflects their excellence and urgency for bringing some of the most complex issues impacting the Latinx community.”

Through its Hispanic Heritage Month programming, Pujol said LSMA strives to encourage greater diversity in the future of the medical field by working to recognize and appreciate marginalized identities like Latinx physicians. 

“As LMSA and as future Latine doctors, we feel it is important to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month to honor the richness of our cultures and to bring attention to help address the crucial needs in our community, including Latine representation in medicine,” Pujol wrote.