CCM

CHICANOS FOR COMMUNITY MEDICINE

NEWSLETTER
FALL 2016 EDITION
 LETTER
FROM
INTERNAL
Chicanos/Latinos for Community Medicine (CCM) at UCLA was established in 1970 with
the mission of creating a communication network for pre-health students, while
ultimately leading to the improvement of health care for underserved communities.
CCM aims to support minority students that lack the tools and support necessary to
succeed in rigorous pre-health coursework. CCMs legacy on the UCLA campus and
beyond exemplifies the commitment of our organization to serve the underserved and
build the future leaders of medicine. For the past 47 years, the structure of our
organization has allowed us to continue to serve as a support system for many pre-
health students. Our organization is composed of three components: the student service
component, community service component, and the administrative component.
While increasing member retention the student service component is dedicated to
providing not only academic support, but also mentorship to ensure that our members
are prepared to succeed academically and professionally. One of CCMs goals is to
increase members interest in serving underserved communities. We do this through the
help of our three community service projects: the Black/Latino AIDS Project (BLAIDS),
Donation of Tissues and Organs (DoT Org) and the Latino Student Health Project
(LSHP). Each project gives our members motivation and insight into the health careers
they are interested in pursuing.
Our 13th Annual Pre-Health conference will be held on February 25th, 2017. This years
conference is titled Juntos Podemos: Promoting Health Equity through Community
Medicine. Our conference will provide students with the opportunity to explore
different health career paths and provide the students with the necessary tools to
succeed. We hope to diversify our conference to meet the needs of all the students by
implementing workshops in public health, nursing, social work and more. Through this
years conference, we ultimately hope to continue our mission of supporting and
creating pathways for our pre-health students.
Together, CCM is here to create a family of passionate future health professionals with
the goal of meeting the needs of underserved communities. I, along with our strong,
twenty-two member board, encourage you to join us in this mission.

- Laura Garcia
Academics
There were several highlights for CCM
academics Fall quarter! First, more than 30
people participated in study buddies, and
even more members utilized resources
such as AAP, the CCM test bank, and the
CCM book bank. One of the primary goals
of study buddies is to encourage group
studying and create support networks for
students taking the same classes. A second
highlight was the MCAT workshop given by
medical student Mithi Del Rosario. Her
workshop was extremely thorough and
insightful, detailing everything from MCAT
preparation strategies, recent MCAT
changes, funding available for MCAT
preparatory courses and medical school
applications.
CCM
MEMBERS
OF THE
QUARTER

CCM is such a great organization thanks to its amazing members that

volunteer with us, attend our meetings, participate in our socials and
support our fundraisers. All of our members are hard-working,
committed to becoming health professionals and future leaders and
contribute to eliminating health disparities through their dedication and
community service. This quarter we would like to recognize two
outstanding members who went above and beyond, demonstrating
excellence and a strong commitment to strengthening CCMs mission.
This Fall Quarter 2016, our General Members of the Quarter were Angela
Galvan and Hyun Kang!
Angela Galvan is a 1st year Neuroscience major from Delano,
California. She volunteered with all three of our projects this
quarter and has consistently attended our club and community
events.. Hyun Kang is a 3rd year Spanish Community and
Culture major from Seoul, South Korea. Apart from being an
enthusiastic volunteer he attended all of the meetings this
quarter and was always eager to network with our amazing
speakers. Angela and Hyun have both demonstrated a strong
passion in pursuing a career in the health field and
contributing to the well-being of underserved communities..
Thank you both for your dedication!
 BOARD MEMBER OF
THE QUARTER

MARTIN VAZQUEZ
Martin Vazquez is a current 5th year student majoring in Biology and Chicana/o
Studies. Martin is one of the fabulous Co-Programming directors for The Latino
Student Health Project (LSHP). Martin works tirelessly, alongside his fellow LSHP
directors, to organize and execute free health fairs in underserved areas, contact
providers, and serves as a liaison for the communities LSHP helps. In addition to
satisfying his responsibilities as a Co-Programming director, Martin never fails to
RETISIV 30 EGAP

demonstrate his passion and commitment to CCM by not hesitating to lend a

helping hand to other CCM directors and general members. Martin goes above
and beyond to ensure that his job is done well and always lightens up the mood at
our events with his lightheartedness and incessant humor. Martin's hard-work,
leadership, and charisma are a few of the attributes that will make him an
amazing physician in the future! Thank you for all that you do for us Martin!
 BOARD MEMBER OF
THE QUARTER

ROBERTO VASQUEZ
Roberto Vasquez is currently a 3rd year majoring in
Psychobiology. Roberto is the other Co-Programming
director for the Latino Student Health Project. He is
committed to the health field and strives to become a future
physician. With his work and dedication, LSHP and its
directors are able to organize health-fairs that provide
RETISIV 30 EGAP

numerous underserved minorities with medical

consultations. Roberto also provides the space with laughter
and humor, making it enjoyable to work alongside him and a
true pleasure to be friends with.
LMSA UC DAVIS
CONFERENCE &
MENTORSHIP
As a pre-health organization, Chican@s/Latin@s

KICKOFF for Community Medicine (CCM) at UCLA places an

emphasis on mentorship in order to create a
strong support system for our members. Many of
our members are low-income, first generation
college students who may not have the means to
find mentorship support. Thus, with the help of
our LMSA Liaison Coordinator, CCM collaborates
with the Latino Medical Student Association
(LMSA) at UCLA to improve the mentorship
component of our organization. Student
members have the opportunity to form
connections with CCM alumni of whom have
either graduated with or are completing a
professional degree (including MD, PhD, MDPhD,
MPH, MSW, among others.)

This year we held our Annual CCM Mentorship

Kickoff at the Wilson Student Lounge at the David
Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. With the help
of hard-working LMSA medical students, doctors,
nursing, and public health students we were able
to get a large number of eager CCMers to attend
our event! Students had the chance to meet and
speak with many health professional students
while enjoying some yummy pizza. Our
attendees also had the opportunity to exchange
contact information with their newfound
mentors in order to keep in touch with them!
Another special event this Fall was the
UC Davis Pre-health Conference. CCM
planned a trip up to UC Davis, where
CCMers had the chance to attend a
wide array of pre-health workshops,
network with health professionals, and
learned about many resources that
could assist them in their post-
graduation plans during the exhibitor
fair!
 Summer 2016 Retreat
This past summer the outgoing CCM Board 2015-2016 came together to facilitate the
transition for the incoming 2016-2017 board of directors during a three day retreat in San
Diego, California. Some of the many activities that took place during this time was the
revision of our constitution, transition of our incoming board members, but most
importantly the enjoyment and bonding that occurred prior to the start of the new
academic year. On Saturday morning the incoming board woke up early to continue our
tradition of cooking the outgoing board breakfast. After breakfast and throughout the day,
each board member was able to share their own goals for improving CCM through their
respective position. The 2016-2017 CCM board also held its first board meeting where it
began to set goals and events for the upcoming quarter (s). Once we concluded all CCM
official duties we were able to spend a whole day in La Jolla, where our board members
had lunch, played some soccer, and then finished with an afternoon on the beach. We
ended the night with a barbeque dinner cooked by our lovely outgoing board. The outgoing
board cooked some delicious burgers, hot dogs and s'mores. As we departed the next
morning we were all ready and excited to start the new academic year. The summer board
retreat truly sparked great conversations and ideas for the year ahead.
CCMS
SPOOKTACULAR
FAMILIA SOCIAL
We kicked off fall quarter with
CCMs spooktacular familia social
challenge Dia de los Midterms.
shooting gummy spiders,
The four familias [Panteras Rosas,
wrapping each other with toilet
Donatello's, Avengers and Ohana]
paper to create a mummy and
had a friendly obstacle course
much more. At the end of the
competition that included having
night we crowned Familia Pantera
them do the three-legged
Rosas as the
Frankenstein challenge,
CCM'S GIVING
AND STUDY-A-
THON! CCM then concluded the quarter
hosting its quarterly study-a-thon
at the David Geffen School of
Medicine Medical lounge.
Members spent the day studying
from 8am-4pm in preparation for
finals. We ended the night bonding
over some delicious turkey,
mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and
many other delicious food brought
to our CCMgiving. Some of the
many attendees at our CCMgiving
dinner were the CCM advisor Dr.
Hayes-Bautista, previous alumni,
and general members. It was a
great quarter and were all thankful
for the hardwork and dedication
made by our general members in
attending our multiple events and
for the board for organizing these
wonderful opportunities. On behalf
of the External Coordinator, Diana
Ponce, wed like to thank everyone
who attended our socials this
quarter.
CCMs Familia of the
Quarter!
Congratulations to the Familia of the Quarter,
PANTERAS ROSAS. Thank you to all the
familia members who went above and beyond
this quarter to help their familia achieve the
first-place title. Familia Panteras Rosas as a
collective completed 212 study hall hours, 20
social credits, had the highest attendance
rate for community service projects and won
1 familia social challenge. Keep doing a great
job Panteras Rosas!!
 Financial
Fundraising for our Winter Pre-Health
Conference started three weeks into fall
quarter! Both board members and general
members were able to enjoy exquisite meals at
BJs Restaurant with roommates and friends,
while giving back to CCM. Even though we had
a good turnout at BJs, no fundraising event
was as enjoyable and tasty as our Pupusa
Fundraiser! Who can resist such flavor and
deliciousness? As financial coordinators, we
would like to thank everyone who contributed
to funding our Pre-Health Conference!

-Karla Murillo and Margaret Ramirez

AIDS WALK
Since 1991, BLAIDS
(Black/Latino AIDS Project)
Black has served as a
collaborative effort
between the Black Pre-
Health Organization
Latino (BPHO) and CCM. Our
mission has been to
educate underrepresented,
socioeconomically
AIDS disadvantaged
communities in the Los
Angeles area about
HIV/AIDS, STIs and the
Project
importance of practicing
safe behavior. We also
promote higher education
through organized
presentations and high
school site visits. We target
African American and
Latino youth up to high
school.
During Fall quarter, we
visited Birmingham
Community Charter
School, Carson High
School, and South El
Monte High School and
educated hundreds of high
school students about
HIV/AIDS, STIs, and higher
education. We attended
the 10K annual AIDS Walk
in Los Angeles in order to
support the organizations
mission to bring awareness
to HIV/AIDS. We would like
to thank all of our generous
volunteers for their time
and support last quarter.
We would also like to
cordially extend an
invitation for our members
to join us at our annual
Love Carefully event held
on February 10, 2017. We
hope to see you there!
 Donation of Tissues and Organs (DoT Org) at UCLA
began as a student-initiated effort to educate UCLA
students and members of the surrounding communities
about the myths and facts of organ and tissue donation,
and thus increase the pool of registered donors within the
Los Angeles area.
Our goal is to raise consciousness of organ and tissue
donation through on and off campus events, which include
Give Life, Give Thanks donor drive, and the annual Donate
Life Run/Walk, among others. With the collective effort of
our volunteers, we hope to reach the community through
public health fairs, LAUSD high school site visits, and
other community-based sites in Los Angeles.
This quarter, we held our first high school site of the
quarter at Hamilton High School on October 28, 2016 and
presented to nearly 40 LAUSD high school students
regarding the process of organ and tissue donation. We
also held our bi-annual Give Life, Give Thanks donor drive
on November 4, 2016 at the SAC benches and were able to
register several UCLA students to become organ/tissue
and bone marrow donors! Thank you to our amazing
volunteers for offering support at our fundraisers and for
helping promote organ and tissue donation at LSHP's
Westlake Health Fair! We are off to a great quarter!
 In 1978, the Latino Student Health
Project was created to help reduce the
increasing rate of debilitating diseases
affecting underrepresented
communities with limited access to
health care and insurance. We make it
our responsibility to promote
preventative health education and
increase access to health services in
medically underserved communities by
organizing health fairs and health
education workshops in Los Angeles
County and Tecate, Mexico.
This quarter, we held our two health
fairs, one in the community of Westlake
and the other in Tecate. In addition to
our staple services like anemia and
glucose screenings, we included vision
services at both of our health fairs.
Thanks to our new partnership with a
local optometrist, the individuals we
serve in Tecate, Mexico will receive free
prescription glasses at our next quarters
health fair. Overall, LSHP provided
health services to more than 300
recipients at our health fairs.
In addition to our health fairs, LSHP
continued its collaboration with other groups
like Projecting Minds, Midnight Mission and
Proyecto de Jornaleros. At Projecting Minds,
LSHP volunteers led a workshop on nutrition
and created healthy snacks with the students
of Nora Sterry Elementary School. At Midnight
Mission, our volunteers helped distribute
breakfast to the homeless population of
Downtown Los Angeles. Lastly, during
Proyecto de Jornaleros our members led a
nutritional workshop at the Institute of
Popular Education of Southern California for
day laborers.
LSHP would like to thank our volunteers this
quarter for all of their amazing work and
dedication in helping us achieve our mission
of giving back to underserved communities
around Los Angeles and Tecate, Mexico.
 Thank you
all for your
hardwork

and committment to

CCM