Griselda Aguilar is CEO for Alliance In Mentorship/MiMentor. She grew up in the Salinas Valley, known as the “Salad Bowl of the World,” where she learned to appreciate the value of hard work, like the lettuce picking her father did in the fields. As Griselda says, “My parent’s sacrifices and support became my inspiration to focus on my studies and do well in school, to end the cycle of poverty I was destined to continue.” She attended California State University at Fresno and took advantage of its support programs for first-generation students, its College Assistant Migrant Program, and its Health Careers Opportunity Program. She has attended yearly Latino Medical Student Association conferences, where she has met like-minded and resilient individuals.

After graduating from CSU, Fresno, she has been working as a Clinical Research Coordinator Assistant with UCSF Fresno and has been serving on the MiMentor board since 2015. MiMentor is a student-run, volunteer organization of over 11,000 mentors/mentees that connect pre-health students with physicians and medical student mentors from all over the country. She was initially charged with expanding MiMentor to the Central Valley and managed a board of pre-health students who facilitated outreach to high schools, community colleges, and universities to educate students about careers in medicine. Through MiMentor, she actively recruits healthcare professionals interested in mentoring the next generation of healthcare leaders.

As the current MiMentor CEO, she is working to build a nationwide expansion effort. Drawing from her personal background, she wants to promote leadership across the country through the MiMentor platforms and hopes her story will bring hope and empower other students as MiMentor paves the way for future doctors committed to serving the underserved. Griselda will be attending UC Davis School of Medicine this fall 2021 and plans to implement her leadership skills in medical school to benefit her peers, faculty, and community. She has persevered through adverse social determinants of health and aims to help close the gap in health disparities as a bicultural, sensitive physician serving vulnerable populations.