In addition to his academic achievements, Garay of Thousand Oaks, California, was selected to speak at his class graduation because of his outstanding internship at Westminster Free Clinic, where he helped patients understand their medical issues and the available health care interventions.
Using his Spanish fluency, Garay interpreted for the volunteer clinicians and their patients. “My goal was to help people feel safe, and I could see in their faces a certain relief that someone is able to understand them and explain to them what’s going on,” said Garay. “An entire village of parents and grandparents raised me. I approached Westminster Clinic patients as if they were my family.”
He graduated with a major in biochemistry and molecular biology and a minor in public health, and currently works at Amgen in the chemical laboratory.
Journey from intern to public health leader
Tanya Wicks, MPH, adjunct faculty for the California Lutheran University Public Health program, describes Garay as “one of those exceptional humans” who went beyond his stated internship activities of intake data collection and assessment of risk factors and social determinants of health. Applying those academic skills, he became part of the extended Westminster Clinic heart health program, Corazones Sanos, which saw him leading Zumba classes, assisting in diabetes prevention education, and even participating in group walks with patients in the nearby canyon.
Westminster Free Clinic, with locations in Thousand Oaks and Oxnard, California, is just one of the CLU internship program sites. Adina Nack, PhD, director of the California Lutheran University Public Health program, lobbied for years to develop the program and was given the go-ahead to launch in the fall of 2020.
“Not that we needed the pandemic to underline the importance of public health,” said Nack, “But some people thought it was like, ‘Wow, how did you do that with such perfect timing?’”
