Citlally Lopez-Flores, one of UNLV’s outstanding graduates, poses on UNLV campus Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in Las Vegas.
Saturday, May 13, 2023 | 2 a.m.
From residents receiving COVID-19 vaccines to emergency room patients in immense pain, Citlally Lopez-Flores has seen — and spoken — to many anxious residents and has learned that caring for patients can go beyond providing physical aid.
In this case, she’s bridging the gap between local doctors and their patients who may not speak English.
“Being there and hearing (patients) tell me ‘I'm scared,’ and then translating that directly to the doctor and the doctor can easily relieve their fears … just being that kind of bridge was really an invaluable experience that I would have never thought to gain,” Lopez-Flores said.
Lopez-Flores, 22, is graduating from UNLV on Saturday with a bachelor’s degree in biology with the hopes of becoming a doctor for underserved communities.
She’s one of 10 graduates – from undergrads to doctoral students – being honored by UNLV President Keith Whitfield as an Outstanding Graduate during the spring ceremonies this weekend.
Graduates may be nominated for the award by achieving outstanding academic or personal successes as well as for meeting their academic goals while overcoming significant life obstacles, according to university officials.
Lopez-Flores will be heading off to UNLV’s medical school in July, but her journey started years ago when she came to see doctors as heroes after reading a book about them. With the support of her older sister — a medical student at UNR — Lopez-Flores worked her way to being a student at UNLV.
Last spring, a friend suggested that Lopez-Flores — a child of Mexican immigrants who mainly speak Spanish — volunteer to help with translating for patient at free vaccine clinics in the area of Paradise and Russell Roads. She also spent time helping Spanish-speaking patients at Sunrise Hospital.
It was a good chance for Lopez-Flores to brush up on her Spanish, which she once feared she was losing as she was less immersed in the language outside of her home.
The population who visited the hospital and pop-up clinics were mostly Spanish speakers, but the medical staff only spoke English, said Lopez-Flores.
That could cause problems, especially if the medical staff misunderstands what the patient is trying to convey to them, she added.
“Interpreting has really shown me how needed doctors who know many different languages are, (and) how important communication is,” Lopez-Flores said. “The reality is, Google Translate cannot explain to you these medical terms, even less so what is going on in your body in a way that makes sense.”
Lopez-Flores could see how having a human translator “made up a world of difference for these patients” by providing them better communication with the gynecologist.
Growing up in a city as diverse as Las Vegas, Lopez-Flores couldn’t believe there weren’t more bilingual medical staff. Roughly 32% of Clark County’s population identifies as Hispanic or Latino according to the 2020 United States census.
Lopez-Flores knows all too well the trouble these language barriers can cause.
Last summer, one of her family members was experiencing suicidal ideation and ended up in the hospital. That family member ended up in the hospital after a suicide attempt and her mother — who had shown up to visit them — couldn’t communicate well with the security guard or hospital staff.
Through tears, Lopez-Flores said she tried to explain to the security guard that she could translate for the mother if they let Lopez-Flores in, but the security guard denied her.
That experience showed Lopez-Flores she has “to do something to make a difference” and bridge “that barrier of language.” Shortly thereafter, Lopez-Flores became a translator and started volunteering with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention as well.
She didn’t stop there. Lopez-Flores has spent the last few years advocating for more Latinos and Latinas in STEM careers, which those industries have historically lacked. While Hispanic people made up 17% of all jobs, only 9% of them were in health-related careers, according to a 2021 report from the Pew Research Center.
At 21, she also became the first UNLV student in history to receive the Pfizer La Jolla Academic Industrial Relations Diversity Research Fellowship in Chemistry.
Through this $20,000 scholarship, Lopez-Flores and her team researched a drug that inhibited cancer cells – a project that was personal for her as someone who lost an aunt to cancer.
Her experiences with the fellowship, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, pop-up clinics and local hospital culminated to her current goal of becoming a holistic doctor, she said.
“I don't want to just be a doctor who is there for the patient, I want to be there for the patient in every capacity of the word — mental, physical language and also now research,” Lopez-Flores said. “Las Vegas is a very diverse community, just like UNLV, and it has shown me that I want to be that bridge. So, to be that bridge, I have to be at UNLV’s medical school.”
