Twelve years after graduating high school, Marco Aguilar is now a medical doctor preparing for his final exams in surgery and internal medicine, following a journey that included studying biomedical science at Northern Arizona University and gaining life-changing ER experience in Spain.
LAS VEGAS — Twelve years ago, when Marco Aguilar graduated from Calexico High School, he had an inkling of the career he wanted to pursue but never materialized what and how long it would take.
Aguilar, 30, is now a medical doctor and now must pass the final test to work in surgery and internal medicine.
“I had an idea of what I wanted to pursue,” Aguilar told the Imperial Valley Press.
With the support of teachers, with one in particular, Aguilar enrolled at Northern Arizona University for four years and a year abroad in Spain to study biomedical science, which became harder for him.
While in Spain for the year, Aguilar had a career-changing moment when he was able to work in the emergency room at a hospital there.
“It gave me motivation in medicine,” he said. “Coming home from Spain, everything started falling in place.”
He started shadowing doctors in Flagstaff while applying to medical schools and was accepted at the School of Medicine of the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara (UAG) School of Medicine in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
He graduated as a medical doctor and applied for residency for his medical area he wanted to pursue.
“After 10 years of education, I am ready to rock and roll,” he said.
While qualified as a medical doctor, Aguilar is trying to get into a surgery program and is taking this year to boost his resume.
It has been a long journey from being a CHS graduate to being a doctor.
“I wouldn’t change a thing,” he said. “It’s what I am supposed to be in life. Time goes by, and I enjoy where I am at.”
Aguilar is back in Calexico while he tries to raise money for the residency program, which, he said, is super expensive.
Thinking back to his high school days, very few people believed he could become a doctor.
“I was not, like, the brightest kid,” he said. “I was a student who did his own thing. Back in high school people would have never thought I would be a doctor.”
Aguilar conceded that it was never easy but added that since he was able to do this, anyone can do the same.
After the residency program is completed, which he believes will be by September, he would like to work in Las Vegas or set up a practice back home in Calexico.
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