Andrea Matayoshi Perez

Hi! I was born in Lima, Peru, and grew up with my parents, sister, and grandparents. My sister Ariana was born with disabilities, and we had to watch her stay at hospitals for long periods. I used to spend those days with my grandparents and developed a strong connection with them, which allowed me to enjoy helping older adult patients and understand their perspectives on life when I was in medical school. There were many struggles during all those years, but my parents could afford my sister’s health care, my education, and everything we needed. Unfortunately, Ariana passed away when I was 15, it was a difficult time for all of us, but I felt my sister left me this huge desire to help kids like her. By then, we had already moved to Cajamarca, a city in the highlands of Peru, and decided to donate Ariana’s wheelchair to a little girl. When we visited her house, I realized how, besides the disabilities, many other social and economic factors were affecting this little girl and her family’s physical and mental health. During medical school, I enjoyed my psychiatry rotations and the public health courses, which made me realize that I would love to join both during my professional career. In 2022, I became a volunteer at Manuela Ramos, a Peruvian feminist organization, where I was able to learn about intersectional feminism. With them, I found a diverse community that discussed what I had always enjoyed learning about and helped me realize how the medical system has, for many years, harmed patients by not taking into consideration all these social disparities. During my training at Yale, I look forward to exploring child and adolescent, public and community psychiatry; additionally, I am excited to share my culture, contribute to the Latinx community and help to improve their access to mental health care. I enjoy dancing, reading, trying new food, and attending cultural events.