Lea en español Charlie Pérez-Suárez got his first job as soon as he turned 16, a way to help out his parents, immigrants from Michoacán, México. That job, in a drugstore in the Chicago suburb of Warrenville, would set him on a sometimes-winding path to medicine. "I asked if there was a chance to work in the pharmacy because none of the pharmacists spoke Spanish," he said.
"They agreed, and I realized right away that I liked working in health care and with patients." Pérez-Suárez moved to Peoria, Illinois, to attend Bradley University, the first in his family to attend college. His major, biomedical science, included the core classes he would need when he decided on a career in medicine.
He considered studying to become a pharmacist and then a dentist, but an email about a free clinic that provided specialized health care caught his attention. The clinic needed Spanish interpreters, so he signed up as a volunteer after completing his second year at Bradley. The work jogged all sorts of memories of growing up in a Spanish-speaking household.
It helped him make his career choice. "When I was 5, I would translate for my parents," Pérez-Suárez said. "I was translating legal documents just as I was just learning how to read.
I would translate at the store or for a doctor's appointment. It drastically impacted everything in my life." Pérez-Suárez did all sorts of work at the clinic, including taking care of the front desk and helping register patients.
But it w.
