Reina Malcolm

I attribute my success to my family values first and foremost. My mom always told me to keep myself straight, to never forget where I came from even though I'm a medical doctor. She reminded me that I come from a low-income family and that I should always remember my roots and help people who need treatment or a medical doctor. I never forget that. That's why I can tell you I live to help people in different ways. Even though I'm a medical doctor living in the U.S., every time I go back to my country and to my neighborhood where my mom still lives, people come out into the street when they see me because I'm still the same person, the same kid they used to know from before. My family values are what have made me successful, along with the people around me, but family comes first.

The best career advice I ever received came from my mom. She told me, even though I'm a medical doctor, to keep myself straight because I'm coming from a low-income family. She said not to pretend to be rich, to always remember where I come from, and to help people who are low-income and people who need treatment or a medical doctor. I'm never going to forget that. Never. That's why I live to help people in different ways. I bring people from my country with kids with autism to New York to see one of my colleagues who is a pediatric neurologist, because we don't have those programs in my country. I always remember my mom's words, and they guide everything I do in my career and life.

My advice is if you want something, just get it. It doesn't matter where you come from, even if you're low-income or whatever. Here in the U.S., you have the chance to study. It's not like our countries, basically in Latino countries. In Latino countries, if you don't have the income to go to college, you don't go to college. But here, even if you are from low-income, you have the opportunity to be successful in your life because you can have a degree. Obviously, college is not for everyone, but at least you can be a technician - an x-ray technician, ultrasound technician. You don't have to be a doctor. The point is to take advantage of the opportunities available to you here.

The biggest challenge, and it's not only in my field, is the language barrier for a lot of people. For example, I have a lot of friends who are medical doctors in their countries, but the language barrier is a challenge, a huge challenge. Because even if you can speak English, you're not going to understand everything that's said all the time. For most of us, that is one of the biggest challenges. It shouldn't hold us back, especially now that we have technology like translation apps, but it remains a significant obstacle for many professionals trying to work in the U.S.

In my personal life, family is the most important value I have, along with friends. In my work life, being a team player is what matters most to me. I believe in collaboration and working together to achieve our goals, while never forgetting that family comes first in everything I do.