Georgetown University’s Medical Spanish Initiative (MSI), a program for students to learn how to speak Spanish in healthcare settings, launched a new partnership with the Arlington Free Clinic (AFC) this year. Their goal is to improve equity in the medical community and give students a chance to practice their language skills in a clinical setting. 

The new collaboration aims to train medical students on how to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients about health issues, as well as teach doctors about the cultural beliefs and socioeconomic factors relevant to administering care to Spanish-speaking patients.

Hispanics made up nearly 20% of the U.S. population in 2021, and 28% of Latinos in the United States are not proficient in English. However, fewer than 6% of American doctors were Hispanic in 2018, and less than 2% of non-Hispanic doctors speak Spanish.

Inochi Gonzalez Calvo (MED ’25), a member of MSI, said that she believes colleges should increasingly encourage medical students to learn Spanish to parallel changing demographics within society.

“Colleges should definitely encourage and provide more opportunities for students to learn or expand their knowledge of a new language,” Gonzalez Calvo wrote to The Hoya. “We should continue to evolve and match the diversity we see in our patient population. This includes diversity in experience and language, amongst many other things.”

David Perez (MED ’26), a member of MSI’s leadership, said that the partnership is the result of his relationship with Georgetown faculty that work with the AFC. Georgetown School of Medicine (GUSOM) faculty, Alejandra Hurtado de Mendoza and Sara Gómez Trillos, enroll research participants referred to them by AFC. 

Perez and the MSI team then used this connection to build a partnership with the clinic.

Perez said that working with the AFC allows students to practice the medical vocabulary and skills they learn through MSI on real patients. The clinic, which depends on the pro bono services of medical professionals, will help provide medical care to underserved communities while giving first- and second-year Georgetown University medical students the ability to practice their skills in a clinical setting.

A group of medical students from GUSOM pioneered MSI four years ago, following an informal survey of his incoming class which revealed that almost a third of students were interested in the program.

Nichole Andrade (MED ’26), an MSI leader and Spanish interpreter, said that it was important to create the program because of the serious gap between the number of patients who speak Spanish as their primary language and health care professionals who can properly communicate with them. 

“Having doctors trained in medical Spanish is crucial due to the significant gap between Spanish-speaking individuals and healthcare professionals proficient in the language,” Andrade wrote to The Hoya. “This disparity exacerbates the existing systemic barriers to healthcare access, further hindering patients from receiving adequate care.”

The student-led MSI also works alongside faculty advisers. Luis Ricardo Henríquez and Olga Rodriguez, an associate professor at GUSOM, teach courses aligned with concepts and units within the GUSOM curriculum.

Marelyn Perez Badillo (MED ’26), an MSI leadership member, said the MSI curriculum is designed to complement the content students learn during their first year of medical school with practical tools, like cultural and socioeconomic competency training that they can apply in real-world situations.

“The purpose of the Medical Spanish course is to aid medical students in learning the necessary communication and cultural competency skills to perform clinical interviews, examinations, and provide patient education in Spanish,” Perez Badillo wrote to The Hoya. “The course parallels the first-year medical student curriculum at the GUSOM and tailors its sessions to align with and complement the concepts being taught throughout the academic year.” 

The focus on real-world application stays at the forefront of MSI teaching, according to Perez Badillo. Each MSI course begins with a lecture led by the program’s faculty advisers and then includes mock patient interviews, which challenge how students would react to various medical situations.

Hernandez said that the MSI has future plans to expand their work beyond an elective and a partnership with one clinic to create a larger program that impacts the greater D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area.

“The ultimate goal is to make Medical Spanish a longitudinal addition to the GUSOM curriculum, where students could follow their medical curriculum and medical Spanish seamlessly throughout their four years of education,” Hernandez wrote to The Hoya. 

MSI also aims to work with additional clinics in the DMV area, according to Hernandez. They hope to provide medical and interpreting services to a larger number of people by partnering with various clinics in the region.

Andrade said that MSI’s work and continued growth are in line with what it means to be a Georgetown student. “The goal is to ensure that healthcare remains equitable and patient-centered,” Andrade wrote. “Honoring the principles of Cura Personalis, regardless of the patient’s native language.”