Our Aim

Our Project & Your Impact

Speaking a patient’s language enhances communication, builds trust, and improves health outcomes. When caring for patients, physicians need to understand the whole person: their fears, hopes, questions, and goals. In Austin, this often means being able to speak Spanish, as 33% of the population in Travis County identifies as Hispanic, and 20% of Spanish-speaking households report that they speak English "less than very well."

We are two Dell Medical School students dedicated to reducing healthcare disparities for Spanish-speaking individuals with limited English proficiency in Travis County. We are seeking $12,000 to cover the cost of our participation in a Spanish language immersion program, which will equip us with the language proficiency needed to better care for these patients. Your support will directly fund our language instruction, helping us, as future physicians, break down communication barriers and provide more compassionate, effective care.

Unlike many programs that require participants to have a background in the language, the five-month program in Puebla accommodates our beginner level of Spanish proficiency. Additionally, the program will immerse us in both the language and culture by having us live with local host families and participate in the community while taking intensive medical Spanish classes. This experience will deepen our cultural understanding, which is vital for effectively delivering compassionate, patient-centered care to Spanish-speaking communities. Between immersion periods in Mexico, we will return to Austin to apply our language skills in local clinics, further reinforcing our learning. This Spanish language immersion program presents an invaluable opportunity for us, and we hope there might one day be a possibility to build it into a sustainable program for future students.

By contributing to this campaign, you are directly helping to shape us into physicians who will be culturally competent and linguistically capable of serving our future patients.

Who We Are

Lauren Contreras and Alia Pederson are both third-year students excited about this extracurricular opportunity for personal growth. Dell Medical School’s forward-thinking curriculum allows enough flexibility to incorporate language learning and cultural engagement into our medical education.

Mentorship, education, and service are at the heart of what drives Lauren. Most of all, she is deeply committed to improving care for Spanish-speaking patients—a personal mission. She has seen firsthand how language barriers can mean the difference between feeling understood and being overlooked. The lack of Spanish-speaking physicians is glaring in the southern U.S., and this experience solidified her resolve. She is determined to help shape a future where healthcare providers can truly connect with their patients—linguistically, culturally, and humanly.

Alia was raised in Austin and hopes to spend her career caring for this community. When she was 16, she needed an emergency appendectomy while living in Russia alone and did not yet speak the language. During the following ten days, she was surrounded by kind people but had no ability to communicate her needs, pain, or fears. When she started working in the hospital as a student, she realized how many people were experiencing that same fear in her hometown. She is committed to reducing all barriers that can obscure the most beautiful and timeless part of medicine: the trusting connection between patient and physician.