Dr. Edison Martinez Monegro, 28, hails from San Juan, Puerto Rico where he attended the University of Puerto Rico San Juan Bautista School of Medicine. He is thriving in Connecticut at UConn School of Medicine as he completes his third year of general surgery residency training.
He credits his residency success thanks to the growing Visiting Externships for Students Underrepresented in Medicine (VESUM) program at UConn School of Medicine and its strong mentorship.
He was just the second medical student in the new and growing VESUM program to match in a UConn residency. So far over forty students have visited UConn for externships over the past 8 years and eight have successfully matched to UConn for residency.
The VESUM program was founded and is directed by UConn’s Dr. Linda Barry, a recent recipient of the nation’s highest honor for mentorship from the President of the United States. VESUM is increasing diversity in academic medicine by offering externships to fourth-year medical students from groups underrepresented in medicine. It gives medical students a four-week insider’s view to various medical specialty fields and UConn Health before they choose their residency match.
“Edison hails from Puerto Rico and has worked diligently to come to UConn and succeed as a surgical resident,” says Barry, professor of Surgery and Public Health Sciences at UConn School of Medicine, associate dean of Office of Multicultural and Community Affairs and associate director of the UConn Health Disparities Institute. “He is the second VESUM student to match and the first student to match for surgery at UConn Health. Edison truly reflects the community we serve. I know the patients he cares for appreciate his genuine dedication and commitment.”
Martinez Monegro first learned about the VESUM program as a third-year medical student while at the University of Puerto Rico through an email his dean shared about the UConn summer scholarship rotation opportunity.
“I applied to VESUM, and I received a letter from Dr. Barry telling me she wanted to meet with me, and I was accepted. I was super excited!” said Martinez Monegro who had his UConn VESUM externship as a rising fourth year medical student within the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at UConn Health working closely with its faculty such as Chief Dr. Kwame Amankwah and Dr. Mina Boutros. “It was a very good experience. I learned a lot I didn’t know. The UConn rotation allowed for me to have greater exposure to the field of surgery and learn more about UConn too. I also met the residency program director and even the dean of the medical school. Most importantly, I got to see other current UConn residents in action.”
He adds, “The VESUM program really prepared me for my residency. And, UConn, it just felt right for me. UConn was at the top of my list for my residency. I was excited when I got the call that I matched to UConn for general surgery.”
“I made the right choice of coming to UConn,” he says heartwarmingly. “Surgery residency is hard. You want the people around you to help you and make you feel at home. UConn does that. Dr. Barry has been amazing.”
Puerto Rico, its culture, and its people are very important to Martinez Monegro.
“Every year there are less and less physicians in Puerto Rico,” stresses Martinez Monegro, who attended as an undergraduate the University of Puerto Rico and its medical school too. “My first goal was to become a doctor to help with that shortage.”
He was inspired to go into the surgery field also by the shows he saw on TV.
“I was always captivated by the surgeries in TV shows. As a senior in high school I shadowed a surgeon for a full day in the OR. Spending the day, tucked into the corner of the OR, I was amazed by it all. I thought I could work here. The OR felt like home. Surgery I realized is what I have to do.”
Also, he says the Hartford area really does have it all. The Puerto Rican people of Hartford are at the heart of Martinez Monegro’s love of Connecticut too.
“What I like about my residency at UConn is that we rotate though a mix of academic and community hospitals,” he says about the five area hospitals of UConn John Dempsey Hospital, Hartford Hospital, Connecticut Children’s, St. Francis Hospital, and Hospital of Central Connecticut. “Hartford’s population is 40 percent Puerto Rican. I want to be able to practice medicine in a place where I can serve my people and speak my language of Spanish while at work.”
Martinez Monegro believes a VESUM externship rotation experience is a great way to visit and learn more about a medical or surgical field and also UConn Health just like he did.
“I learned the OR is where I like to be. It’s a long day, but I love learning, the responsibility of caring for our patients, and working with the UConn medical team. I am motivated every day to keep helping patients,” he says.
He also applauds UConn School of Medicine for its longstanding work of diversifying the future health care workforce.
“UConn has done an excellent job of diversifying medicine. We have residents of all different backgrounds in our residency programs,” Martinez Monegro. “For example, I speak Spanish, so my colleagues ask me for help translating for their patients sometimes. When I need help, funny enough I first ask my fellow residents to translate for me in their languages ranging from Russian to Arabic.”
His message to those applying to residency or in the thick of residency: “Enjoy what you do! Try to find new learning opportunities in everything you do!”
