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Feinberg Spotlight Ben Roth, MD Class of 2010 My foremost goal in going to Mexico City was to learn Spanish; and although I can't claim to be fluent in Spanish, the experience was still wholly worthwhile. Throughout my time there, I learned a lot about the culture and the people of Mexico. My host family was incredibly hospitable and, through their weekly invitations to family gatherings, taught me how central the family is to the culture of Mexico. Every week, they would gather with one side of the family or the other for soccer games, birthdays, or holidays. Of course they had the benefit of their entire family within the metropolis of Mexico City, but after seeing the benefits of such close family connections I will hope to place more emphasis on family in future decisions. I also learned, through experience or observation, some of the struggles faced of those living in Mexico. For a week, I and other exchange students traveled to a rural city in the mountains. The city, Tlapa, was the center of commerce for the region yet was visibly poor and struggled with drug crime. A visit to a local home of abandoned or overly poor girls revealed the struggles of the people in the region. Many of the girls, according to the director, were at the home because their parents were willing to "sell them for a case of beer or for food." Other girls were there because their parents were poverty-striken and had gone to the US or the city for work. Their plight underscored the needs of the poor, mostly indigenous people of the area and provided a huge contrast to the relative financial wealth of Mexico City. Finally, Tlapa revealed the depth of racism, even among Mexicans. Many of the fair-skinned Mexican medical students revealed that they had been targeted, either with words or vandalism, because of their more European skin color, which differed from the darker skin color of the region's population. This insight into racial tensions, even among people that those in the US would probably fail to distinguish as racially distinct, surprised me. Back in Mexico City, I saw other daily challenges that some people faced. Riding the Metro to the hospital daily revealed that I had to struggle even to get on a train! If I didn't fight to get on, I would miss one train and the group of people waiting for the next one would only increase and hem me in. Overall, the experience in Mexico City gave me incredible insight into the lives of those in living Mexico, both the great aspects of their culture and their daily struggles. How has this experience enhanced your medical training and how will it help you in the future as a doctor? My experience in Mexico City was important for my medical training in two main ways. First, it helped me understand the importance of knowing Spanish fluently for the benefit of patients. Throughout my time in Mexico, I struggled with understanding what people were talking about, from simple things like understanding what the waiter was asking after I had already given my order to understanding instructions that my host family was giving me. These experiences engendered a feeling of discontent and confusion, even though they centered on mundane subjects. I can't imagine how scared patients who do not speak English must feel in an American hospital when translators are not present. As a result of my experiences in Mexico, I am much more likely to seek out professional translation in the interest of patient care as I treat patients in the future. Second, my experience in Mexico City demonstrated the importance and the diagnostic capabilities of the physical exam. Expensive diagnostic tests are reserved for use only when absolutely necessary. In their place, all of the students and the doctors focused on the physical exam as the central way to diagnose and monitor the progress of patients. This emphasis underscored the importance of learning the physical exam well and showed me how central it is in treating patients effectively. 
.....to read the full report, log onto Trip Evaluations
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