The shortage of Latino doctors in Arizona

On this special episode of “Horizonte,” we explore the intersection of health care and education and the steps needed to create a stronger, more inclusive medical system. Despite members of the Hispanic community making up 32% of Arizona’s population, Arizona faces a staggering shortage of Spanish-speaking doctors.

Dr. Jesse Bracamonte, a family medicine physician at Mayo Clinic Arizona, and Rebeca Soto Caballero, a medical student and member of the Latino Medical Student Association, joined host Catherine Anaya to discuss why this gap exists.

“Just to give a little insight more into my class, out of the 90 students, there are only a handful of us that are of Hispanic descent,” Caballero said. Latino students face systemic barriers in medical education, and it’s important for there to be cultural representation in medicine.

Fixing this gap, as Dr. Bracamonte points out, is important because “students have well documented for decades that those who are of a special culture are more likely to seek care from an individual that shares the same culture or belief or ethnicity. There are more instances of trust.”

Alongside the interview, this episode features a WorkingNation documentary film, “Hispanic Doctors: Missing from Medicine,” that explores the health care disparities within the health care community. The documentary follows a young woman from Houston, Texas, who made it her mission to become part of the solution by becoming a doctor.