Resident
Northwell Health- Long Island Jewish Medical Center
Born and raised in Bogota, Colombia, my family immigrated to the United States when I was eleven years old. My personal and professional advancement in the U.S has had a lot of “firsts”; first to attend an American college in my family, first to attend graduate school, and first to devote my professional development to surgery. I have my parents to thank for teaching me disciplined work ethic, high moral standards, an attitude to learn, and reminding me to stay humble. I think these attributes in combination with keeping a patient-centered mentality is what helped me earn Columbia University's College of Dental Medicine award for Divisional Excellence in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
My commitment to this profession stems in large part from my passion in learning and my decision to apply such acquired skills and knowledge to help people. I am grateful for the training I have received and will continue to attain during my OMFS residency, as I think it gives me a thorough understanding of movements and positioning of maxillofacial structures and how they interact with the oral cavity to create a functional occlusion and aesthetic smile harmonious with the facial contour and soft tissue. In addition, I have the unique opportunity to be trained by prominent head and neck and microvascular surgeons that bring a wealth of knowledge, high volume of cases, and a chance for me to engage in a vast operative experience encompassing bony and soft tissue management that includes the head and neck, but also full-body anatomy.
I look forward to the 6th year of my surgical training and plan to absorb as much as I can from the world-class surgeon attendings that my program has to offer.