8/28/2007
Derek Jackson, a 2007 Pisacano Scholar, is a 4th-year medical student at the University of Washington School of Medicine (UW).
Derek Jackson, a 2007 Pisacano Scholar, is a 4th-year medical student at the University of Washington School of Medicine (UW). Derek graduated with honors from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies. Derek received the Creativity in Latin American Studies Award his senior year, which is given to the graduating student exhibiting the most innovative approach to his/her education with respect to course work, research and study abroad. Derek’s passion for the Latino community began as a child when he worked alongside immigrant workers on his parent’s dairy farm in southern Idaho. Since that time Derek has served in many capacities in the Latino community. He spent two months in Peru and another two months in Mexico teaching English to Spanish-speaking natives. He also completed an internship at a hospital in Peru and then served as a volunteer migrant outreach care coordinator in rural Idaho during a year away from his undergraduate education.
As a medical student, Derek has continued his involvement with the Latino community. During his first year of medical school, he began the implementation of a project that would provide information to Latino men in Idaho about sexual safety and would assess which risk-taking practices needed to be addressed by local outreach programs. He has since presented his results to fellow students at UW, at the Western Student Medical Research Forum Conference in 2006, and to physicians and social workers in Idaho. He is now preparing to submit his research for publication. During his second year of medical school, Derek completed a clerkship at a hospital in Guanajuato, Mexico. He was the first student sent by the University of Washington to what is now an established program between the state of Guanajuato’s medical school and the UW School of Medicine.
Upon completion of residency, Derek would like to return to Idaho and hopes to serve the diverse group of immigrants and rural populations in his home state. He doesn’t see his future in medicine as a job or career, but as a lifestyle choice based on passion and the opportunity to leave things better than he has found them.
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