Coming from a small town in Crystal City, Texas, population 8000, I never saw myself getting to where I am today. I could envision what I wanted from an early age, but I can’t say I actually believed it would ever happen. And even if it did, at 14 years old, I couldn’t really know then what it would mean to find real fulfillment and authenticity in my leadership journey.

Like many healthcare providers in the Los Angeles area, and well beyond to healthcare organizations throughout the United States, City of Hope has recognized the growing need for clinical professionals and staff that more closely mirror the patients it serves in its catchment area. And with a local population that is nearly half Hispanic, that means recruiting more Hispanics into the industry, as well as providing much needed career development opportunities. But whereas most in the industry are just beginning to acknowledge the need, City of Hope has taken the lead to recruit more Hispanics into the industry and also has started to build a Hispanic talent pipeline for the immediate and not so distant future.

More and more we find ourselves going outside the country to fill research positions and graduate student admissions at City of Hope. Not the county, but the country! One reason for this is the relative shortage of American students going into the sciences and into research careers beyond college. According to the National Science Foundation, only 31% of bachelor’s degrees are given in the fields of science and engineering in the U.S. – and that proportion is actually down slightly from 1966 when such data were first collected.