Victoria Clair is a child of the world.
“That’s how my mom describes me,” says Clair, who is set to graduate from the University of Colorado School of Medicine on May 19 and embark on a new chapter in her medical education at the University of San Francisco for a residency in internal medicine.
“I come from a family of Cuban immigrants,” she says. “In my house it was my mom, my younger brother, and me, but my grandparents lived in the house behind us, so we would walk back and forth through a little hole in the fence. We’re a very tight knit family, and I was the first to go away to college. Once I did that, I wanted to keep going. Discomfort builds growth.”
That mindset landed Clair, who grew up keenly interested in health and science, on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. In many ways, Clair says her medical school education has been a springboard. As a student, she’s found a love for global health, volunteered abroad and in the local community, and discovered how she wants to use her passion for medicine to help underserved patient populations, especially immigrants and refugees.
“I feel so privileged to work with these patients and see them for who they are,” Clair says. “They are some of the hardest working, most passionate people. I want to be a voice that helps dismantle negative stigmas that are often pinned to people who are seeking a better life.”
A global learning experience
Much of Clair’s time at the CU School of Medicine has been defined by the people she’s been able to help along the way, because they’ve also helped her.
“Colorado is much different than south Florida, so there was some culture shock,” she says. “I found a lot of comfort working primarily in federally qualified health centers where a lot of the patients were undocumented, uninsured, and often spoke primarily Spanish. I felt like I could relate to these patients in a way many of my classmates could not.”
From there, Clair’s interest in global health took hold, even without being on the school’s global health track. After her first year of medical school, she spent six weeks working with the volunteer medical staff of Team Heart in Rwanda.
“It really opened my eyes,” she says. “So, coming back I chose to do my second-year clerkships at Clinica Campesina, another federally qualified clinical center where many patients are undocumented, uninsured, and don’t speak English.”
Victoria Clair spent six weeks working alongside doctors and health care workers with Team Heart in Rwanda. Photos courtesy of Victoria Clair.
During Clair’s time at the clinic, the U.S. was withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, and so many Afghan refugees arrived in Colorado needing medical care. This new patient population came with a new set of cultural norms, priorities, and challenges.
“The providers and I were learning together, and it made me really interested in refugee care,” Clair says.
Seeing a need, Clair applied to be a longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC) ambassador for the clinic – which allowed her to mentor other students and teach them how to approach care at clinics that cater to refugee care.
Clair also spent a fourth-year rotation in Tijuana under the Refugee Health Alliance. For a month, she assisted mobile outreach along the southern border and got to step into the role of an intern.
‘It feels like the American dream’
In her residency, Clair will focus on cardiology and critical care – a dream she’s had for as long as she can remember.
“I’d like to approach it through a lens of global health and underserved patients,” she says. “Honestly, I thought I was just going to go to medical school and focus on cardiology and the preventative side of things, which I am passionate about, but now I know I want to apply that to these patient populations who don’t always have the privilege of having preventive conversations with their physicians.”
Victoria Clair found a path through medical school working with immigrants at various clinics. At Clinica Campesina, she often worked with immigrants and refugees who were new to the U.S. and in need of health care.
“My journey is a testament to the fact that you can plan, but life has its own plans for you. You have to go with the flow sometimes and take experiences for what they are because you never know what paths will open up for you,” she continues.
At graduation, Clair’s brother and mom will be in the audience while her grandparents are cheering her on from their home in Florida.
“It feels like the American dream. Your mom comes from a different country and their goal is that their child becomes a doctor, and now it’s happening. I’m just so excited to keep going and see what the next part of this journey holds,” she says.
