“My teacher was a retired veterinarian who was passionate about educating us on the human body and physiology. He made a complicated topic become fun and enjoyable for me. I admired his enthusiasm for the topic and appreciated the challenge that the class presented. I developed a love for the human body and its processes. With that initial spark, I then cared more about dissecting my dad’s own journey in medicine.”
When she was a child, Leon says her dad told her he had been a doctor in Mexico, but he didn’t emphasize that part of his background -- family, much more so. She would learn that he left the medical profession in his native country because he couldn’t make the money necessary to take care of his family. Leon wasn’t born yet when her parents immigrated to America in the late 1980s, but her sister and brother were. Leon says her father’s difficulty with the English language made it impossible for him to get a license to practice as an anesthesiologist in the U.S. So he started his own landscaping firm. “In Mexico, if you weren’t affiliated with a hospital taking care of well-to-do patients, it wasn’t easy to live as a doctor. My father helped the common man...My father says he has no regrets about the decision he made to come to the U.S. He just wanted his children to be able to do whatever they wanted to do in life. There was no pressure on me to go into medicine. He just wanted me to be happy.”’
Growing up, Leon and her family didn’t have health insurance. “Fortunately, we were all pretty healthy. If we went to the doctor, we saved up the money to pay in cash...We would get looks because we didn’t have insurance. I know now if we had a real medical emergency, it would have ruined the family...”
As a 10-year-old, with her brother and sister out of the house, Leon’s facility with languages made her the family interpreter at the doctor and places like the DMV and grocery stores, where a lack of understanding of the English language could result in bureaucratic violations, monetary misunderstandings, or even a questionable diagnosis. “I didn’t realize until I was older how involved I was in interpreting things for the family when I was so young.”
It wasn’t until she began her journey toward medicine that Leon started to understand the significance of being a “cash patient.” Volunteering at Volunteers in Medicine of Southern Nevada (often as an interpreter) as a UNLV undergraduate, she saw she was not alone in lacking healthcare access. “Today I truly understand the drastic effect a lack of health insurance may have on those suffering from chronic illnesses and the strain it places on families.”
Named from the first book of the Bible, Genesis Leon says her parents really loved that Genesis stands for “creation” and the “beginning of life.” Leon recalls that after she was accepted to medical school, her father offered to sell the family house to help pay for her studies. “My father is very proud of what I’ve done...financially, I was fortunate to be awarded a full-tuition (Engelstad Foundation) scholarship that would relieve the stress of having high medical student debt. I’ll never forget that. It will help give me the opportunity to work with the underserved.”
While she’s not sure what her medical specialty will be, Leon has long thought about what makes a good physician. In addition to clinical expertise, she says “a good physician is a person who has a strong sense of empathy, is a patient listener and culturally competent,” the kind of physician who takes the time to truly get a sense of the patient. If an interpreter must be used, she says the physician doesn’t talk to the interpreter instead of the patient. “A really good doctor makes an effort to connect with the patient,” she says.
Leon, who enjoys mentoring students interested in medicine, is optimistic about her future.
“While I understand that one Latina from Las Vegas may not be able to change the world, I believe that as a physician, I will be able to positively impact the individual world of all patients and their families. My personal experiences growing up as a Mexican American have shed light on the obstacles that many minorities in the U.S. overcome daily. I strive to use my compassion to support these families and provide the underserved with quality healthcare -- healthcare in which they can trust and feel comfort. Eventually, I wish to bring my passion for mentorship to practice by shaping physicians’ understanding of medicine and patient care.”
