At one private university in the little-known megalopolis of Guadalajara, Mexico the next generation of American doctors is acquiring the knowledge, skills and compassion needed to meet the myriad health care challenges of tomorrow.
And they’re doing it in Spanish.
On the inviting Biological Sciences campus of Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, American students in white scrubs chat at the al fresco coffee bar, in the shade of jacaranda trees. The first year students complete academic work in all-English environment, but by year three, their Spanish must be proficient enough to complete assignments, pass examinations and take patient histories in a second language.
For fourth-year student Paul Sayegh of Yonkers, New York, applying to UAG was an easy decision.
“I have 17 UAG alumni in my family, all of whom are very successful, devoted physicians,” he says via e-mail from Guadalajara.
Guadalajara is a hub of arts, cuisine and education about a three hour drive from the famous beach town of Puerta Vallarta. In size and economic importance, it draws comparisons to Houston.
Susana Leaño-de la Vara, dean of International Student Affairs, was born and raised in Guadalajara, and for the last 10 years has called San Antonio home.
As a third generation of the university’s founding family, Leaño-de la Vara provides leadership, organization, and management of all international student services provided by UAG. Recruitment, enrollment, assessment, orientation, registration and records, financial aid, admission advising, student activities, and graduation all fall under the umbrella of her responsibility.
“It makes me extremely proud to have a small role in helping people become doctors,” she says. “Their successes ensure that people like you and I get the kind of compassionate, efficient care we deserve.
“Our office in San Antonio is the North American headquarters for American applicants. We help with the documentation required by Mexican law, with obtaining American loans for study abroad, with getting an apartment in Guadalajara. We do it all.”
Having offices in two countries can be complex. But Leaño-de la Vara takes these challenges in stride and encourages cross-department collaboration.
“That’s one of my favorite things about my job. Learning about different departments has made me a better leader,” she says.
As dean, Leaño-de la Vara also promotes international awareness and global engagement through programming and marketing. She is active in supporting local organizations, such as HACU and HECSA, that focus on health care, higher education and multiculturalism.
“My vision is to get more Americans to fulfill their dreams of becoming doctors,” she says. “If they pursue their educational objectives at UAG, it means more skilled, bilingual physicians enter the workforce here in the U.S.”
The lure of studying at UAG, in addition to linguistic benefits and federally funded loans, is patient-centered learning. Throughout their five years, students assist at regional clinics in impoverished and underserved communities. They learn firsthand about diseases and symptoms by caring for patients. And it’s this person-to-person contact which helps students develop a compassionate bedside manner.
“In order to truly learn medicine, we must ‘do’ medicine and that is why UAG continues to produce some of the finest, most refined physicians of our time,” Sayegh says.
It is this applied element of their schooling that distinguishes UAG from so many other international universities. And because Hispanic culture places a heavy emphasis on interpersonal relationships, the time a doctor spends making small talk – asking about family, work, discussing the weather – can translate into a broader diagnostic ability.
“We teach our students to make the time for personal interaction. It’s a major philosophical difference UAG stresses,” Leaño-de la Vara says. “In Mexico doctors learn that in order to accurately diagnose a patient, they must make the patient comfortable and earn their trust. Compassion is key.”
In addition to her grandfather’s legacy as one of the founders of the UAG, Leaño-de la Vara cites her mother as inspiration. “My mother worked in various capacities at UAG over the years,” she says, “and I had a chance to watch her in action. She was simply unafraid of making waves, and totally committed to bringing about change, to moving forward. And I’ve tried to emulate that here.”
Leaño-de la Vara promotes a work-life balance in her office by providing staff with three weeks of paid vacation each year, in addition to regular calendar holidays and a three-month maternity leave. She also honors staff contributions at twice-annual, company-wide dinners.
As a mother of four, Leaño de la Vara says she sees many parallels between managing and parenting. “For example, I expect my employees to make mistakes, just like I expect my children to. And I let them learn from their mistakes. I’ve found this is what helps people thrive, and in the workplace it breeds loyalty.”
UAG’s presence in San Antonio has, in the last 10 years, expanded significantly. On the first floor of UAG’s Stone Oak office building, a language school serves the community of San Antonio. A bilingual medical interpreter certification course was recently launched in response to the city’s surging demand for qualified individuals to bridge the language gap at local hospitals.
“Our language school here in San Antonio is an extension of the one embedded in UAG in Mexico,” she says. “It’s also an extension of our mission to provide educational excellence.”
By identifying and responding to emerging educational needs, UAG has positioned itself as an institution with an aptitude for bridging gaps. And Susana Leaño-de la Vara has proven herself a faithful steward of UAG’s heroic educational mission.
