When Hilda Merino-Chavez began pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor, she could never have predicted the long journey and everywhere this path would take her. It was a journey of 2,000 miles, from Ecuador in South America to Orlando, Florida – straight through Grace Medical Home.
Her story began in Ecuador where she attended medical school. She came to Orlando 15 years ago to continue her career path and marry her fiancé, now her husband. Today, Dr. Merino is an Endocrinologist in private practice in the Orlando area, specializing in diabetes and thyroid disease. She now volunteers as a physician at Grace. It’s where she first started many years ago as a front desk volunteer answering phones.
“It was a great experience at Grace. It was the most valuable experience I’ve ever had. I met several internal medicine physicians, which was the area of medicine I wanted to specialize in,” Dr. Merino explains.
“It was a big process to learn the U.S. medical system. It is much different than the public health system in Ecuador,” she said. To gain additional knowledge and perfect her English, Dr. Merino first spent three years earning a master’s degree at UCF in Molecular Biology. Her mentor, a professor at UCF, had suggested she volunteer at Grace to expand her knowledge of the U.S. medical system.
“At the front desk, I worked with Spanish patients. I helped with translation. Then I decided to do a Gap Year Internship which was very helpful as I worked with many physicians in various specialties,” she said.
Following her master’s degree, Dr. Merino earned a Residency in Internal Medicine at UCF’s Hospital in Lake Nona. A two-year Fellowship in Endocrinology followed.
“Most importantly, my time at Grace guided me to how a physician should be and how a medical system should function. I wanted to help people, and in the pursuit of the final goal of being able to practice as a physician, you study and study and then can forget why you wanted to become a physician!” she said.
“At Grace, I received two types of valuable experiences. First, professionally I was exposed to such amazing volunteers, among them the doctors at Grace. Secondly, personally I learned that if you combine medicine with faith, you have a more fulfilling life as a physician. I saw how they carried their faith and shared it with their patients. Today, that experience keeps me grounded,” Dr. Merino said.
