Barbara Trejo Ortega

Bárbara was born and raised in Puerto Rico, the place she still calls home. She applied to Harvard University out of a sense of curiosity and adventure and was surprised to find herself packing her bags to leave her hometown and move to Cambridge, MA. She studied Biology but fell in love with public health and, after graduating college, moved to Nicaragua for two years to work on an initiative to fortify rice with micronutrients. She was often found traveling the country, visiting rice mills and working with community health workers. At the same time, she learned how to salsa dance, cook delicious vegetarian meals and cultivate a daily meditation practice. Her decision to become a doctor led her to New York City, where she received her MD from Columbia University. Working with minoritized communities in medical school convinced her to become an advocate for improving mental health care for BIPOC patients, especially Spanish-speaking ones. In many ways, her academic and professional interests have intersected with her identity as a Latinx woman and she looks forward to working with communities like those she grew up with. Bárbara enjoys wearing large earrings, reading fiction, painting, cooking, pottery, and tirelessly working to win over the affections of her cat, Mumu.