Tatiana Carrillo: Building Bridges, Breaking Walls
Tatiana Carillo wants to become an orthopedic surgeon. “Ideally, I would love to work for the U.S. Dept. Of Veterans Affairs with veterans and prosthetics," she says.
When Tatiana Carrillo was a little girl, she’d follow her mother around with a spoon, trying to listen to her heartbeat. “I’m going to make you feel better,” young Tatiana would say. From that point on, her mother predicted her daughter would one day become a doctor.
Humble Beginnings
Carrillo grew up in Hunts Point, Bronx, into a family that struggled to make ends meet. She was raised by a single mother in a studio apartment with her grandmother, two cousins and her sister.
Through scholarships and loans, Carillo made it through the College of Mount St. Vincent in the Bronx, as well as two graduate programs: the molecular biology master’s program at Hunter College and TouroCOM’s Master of Science Program—a stepping stone to the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) program in which she is currently enrolled.
Carrillo first became interested in osteopathic medicine when she attended a summer medical program at the Georgetown University School of Medicine as a high schooler. She was doing rotations with a D.O. in the emergency room, and “I liked how the DO integrated body with illness and saw the patient as a whole person,” she said.
From that point on, Carrillo recalls knowing that she wanted to practice osteopathic medicine. Achieving that goal became her main focus throughout her undergraduate and graduate studies, eventually leading her to TouroCOM.
Involvement in the Touro Community
Since starting medical school, Carrillo has become very active in the TouroCOM community. She is president of the Creating Osteopathic Physicians who Achieve Scholastic Success (COMPASS) program and vice president of the Student Osteopathic Surgical Association. In addition, she serves as a mentor to master’s students, providing them with guidance and support.
Goals and Giving Back
Carrillo’s her dream is to become an orthopedic surgeon. “Ideally, I would love to work for the U.S. Dept. Of Veterans Affairs with veterans and prosthetics,” she said. She’d like to give back by working in a third-world country for a few years, particularly to help treat children with congenital abnormalities.
Although finances have been an issue for her, Carrillo says she is not studying medicine to earn a high income. She would love to stay in her underserved Hunts Point community with her family and friends, even if that means getting a smaller paycheck. “The Hunts Point neighborhood is very underserved,” says Carillo.
Carrillo enjoys TouroCOM largely because it is part of the neighborhood Harlem culture. “We integrate ourselves with the community,” says Carrillo.
