Carlos Estrada Alamo. Image: John Soares
Carlos Estrada Alamo. Image: John Soares
When he was five years old, Carlos Estrada Alamo traveled with his family from his native Guanajuato, Mexico, to Seattle, Washington. His family came filled with hope for the future in the land of opportunity, but without the benefit of immigration documents.
“I've always had to find ways to navigate through, over, or under the challenges that have arisen in front of me.”—Carlos Estrada Alamo
As he set out to find his own piece of the American dream as an undocumented immigrant, Estrada said, “I've always had to find ways to navigate through, over, or under the challenges that have arisen in front of me.”
Instead of stopping when things got tough, he simply found another way around the obstacles in his path.
As an undergraduate bioengineering student, he honed his ability to assess problems as puzzles waiting to be solved. Working in the emergency department of a hospital in his community—where he had begun volunteering as a high school student—he began to see the medical system as another especially puzzling problem in need of a solution.
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Growing up, Estrada had seen that limited access to health care, and fear of interacting with the health care system, were often barriers to greater opportunity for many immigrant families. He saw it again, first hand, working in the hospital.
“People would come in with complicated, chronic conditions that had roots in their social and economic histories, but the care we were able to provide was just treating the most superficial symptoms,” he said. “We weren’t doing anything to change the trajectory of their health.”
Estrada came to Harvard Medical School—with a recently acquired permanent resident status thanks to the sponsorship of his wife—looking for a place where he could work with and learn from people who are focused on the wider view. To support his studies, Estrada received a 2014 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.
The challenges of learning the basic science and clinical skills necessary to become a physician is daunting, even without the additional layer of trying to understand the intricacies of economics and human systems, but to improve the health of individual communities and create a sustainable health care system for everyone, that’s what Estrada would like to do.
The most important questions can’t be answered by using a single perspective, Estrada noted, adding that he does not believe there is any single destination that everyone can reach together. The journey, which passes through the worlds of microbiology, bioengineering and health systems reform—will continue to unfold, he said.
“We're so focused on microscopic details, but you also need to learn to zoom out and see how all the pieces fit together so you don’t lose sight of the question that matters the most” he said. “How do we best preserve our body—this fragile biological machine—in order for all people to live life to the fullest?”
