My story as a pediatrician in the US-Mexico border
Carmen Rocco |
TEDxBrownsvilleWomen
• October 2016
Over her 30 years as a pediatrician, Dr. Carmen Rocco has a unique perspective of what makes families work in a community with few resources. Her professional journey has been a unique and inspiring one and one that has provided a window into the struggle and beauty of families in the U.S.-Mexico border.
Dr. Carmen Rocco was born in Havana, Cuba, the middle child of two very idealistic and highly motivated parents. Her father was a physician in Cuba and became one in the US but beyond that, he believed in this country as a model of democracy and justice. His idealism propelled his three children to pursue careers in advocacy and the healing profession. She was the only one that pursued a career in medicine. Following his idealism, Dr. Carmen Rocco became involved in the Texas Migrant Farmworker Movement which brought her to the Rio Grande Valley in 1986.
She decided to practice medicine in Brownsville, Texas after a rotation in a migrant community health center, 35 years ago. Since then, she has practiced pediatrics in this region for 30 years. First, as medical director of a community and migrant center and then as a private pediatrician.
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