Paulina Guzmán is a native Chicagoan, proud Latina with roots in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and an advocate for uninsured, underrepresented populations, and undocumented individuals. As a first generation and non-traditional student, Paulina completed her master’s in education with a focus on Higher Education and Leadership (ENLACE) from Northeastern Illinois University in 2014. She completed her undergraduate studies at National Louis University in Chicago with a major in Business and Health Leadership. As a health organizer at the Resurrection Project, Paulina advocated for state funding and successfully secured the necessary dollars for uninsured Black women and Latinas, and undocumented women to have access to low-cost to free women’s health screenings. She has gained extensive knowledge of the health barriers Latinas/os/x and other underrepresented populations face through her work in healthcare and personal experiences. These experiences were Paulina’s driving force to make an impact and work with pathway programs that support Latinx students preparing to apply to medical school and the health professions.  Paulina is the Undergraduate Program Director at the UIC’s Hispanic Center of Excellence (HCOE), College of Medicine where she manages the Medicina Scholars and the Latino Health Science Enrichment Program (LaHSEP).   Additionally, she is passionate about increasing the number of Latino and underrepresented physicians who provide culturally and language concordant care and increasing the number of physicians who will address the health barriers and disparities that affect our Latino and underrepresented communities. Given her commitment to diversify the medical workforce, Paulina is on the board of Chicago MOLA where she serves as the co-chair of the mentoring program. In her free time, Paulina enjoys spending quality time with family, enjoys baking, traveling, and going on nature walks.