Former student headed to Johns Hopkins

Mario Teran of Douglas, is topping off a very successful college career with a residency in general surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, one of the most prestigious facilities in the country.

  As a UA undergraduate, he participated in the UA College of Medicine’s Minority Medical Education Program (MMEP), which helps promising, highly motivated minority college students gain admission to medical schools. 

He graduated from the UA with a bachelor’s degee in physiology in 2004.  As a medical student, he helped start the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) Arizona Chapter at the UA College of Medicine and has served for the past year on the LMSA Board of Directors as Northern CEO. 

He was featured in the American Association of Medical College’s HCOP-COE Profiles of Success.

As a child,  Terán recalls spending his summer vacations in the  doctor’s office.

Living in Douglas,  his family would have to travel to Tucson or Sierra Vista, just  so that his grandparents could see a specialist. Once there, Mario would  watch as his parents translated and fostered negotiations between his  grandparents and their physicians.

Their struggles with the health care  system motivated Mario to pursue a career as a physician – a goal that  didn’t always seem attainable to him, given where he grew up.

With  the help of the Arizona Hispanic Center of Excellence (AHCOE),  however, Mario is well on his way to fulfilling his dream. Today,  Mario is a member of the Class of 2008 at the University of Arizona,  College of Medicine.

There, he founded the Arizona chapter of the  Latino Medical Student Association and currently serves as president.  And to help resolve the difficulties his family encountered, he plans to  practice in an underserved area like the one where he grew up.