Knowing
Yourself and Your Community
When asked what led to his interest in primary care, Dr. Daniel
Jesus Turner-Lloveras, a native of Sacramento, California, maintains he “was
raised with the belief that we should always help those less fortunate than
us.”
In his final year at the University
of Southern California (USC), Dr. Turner-Lloveras applied for the National
Health Service Corps Scholarship Program and received financial support for
his studies at the University
of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.
In 2012, after working two years in South L.A.,
Dr. Turner-Lloveras began practicing as an internist at
the JWCH
Institute Center for Community Health Downtown. As a resident of the Los Angeles community where he serves, Dr.
Turner-Lloveras’ eyes opened to the tremendous need of the Watts community during his daily metro commute to the health
center, as well as through regular walks throughout the community, where he encounters numerous patients
living with mental illness.
With more than 18,000 homeless individuals living in the city’s Skid
Row area, Dr. Turner-Lloveras quickly learned about the devastating effects of
substance abuse, gang violence and untreated illness on this vulnerable
community. He asserts “many practitioners have a false representation
of what the work entails and that often, working in these resource poor communities, the
environment is more calm and organized than one would assume.”
Committed to spreading the word about the National Health Service
Corps, Dr. Turner-Lloveras joined the Ambassador program in 2013. As a
dedicated and passionate volunteer, he actively pursues recruitment
opportunities with hopes to increase the number of primary care clinicians
working in underserved areas throughout the community, such as Skid Row.
In key leadership roles as a guest lecturer for the Primary
Care Initiative at the Keck School of Medicine, an
advisory council member with the Latino
Medical Student Association, and co-chair
of the National Hispanic Medical Association West Coast Regional Committee, Dr.
Turner-Lloveras engages medical students about his experience as a NHSC Scholar
and a practicing physician.
Dr. Turner-Lloveras’ plans are to continue educating students on
the rewarding benefits of NHSC service and demonstrating, through his own
career trajectory, how to be most impactful as a primary care physician. In
order to make a true difference, he recommends providers
“stay involved and get to know their community” as he has done in his
own life.
If you are
interested in being featured in a future Ambassador Spotlight and are willing
to share your story as a NHSC Ambassador, please email:
NHSCAmbassador@hrsa.gov.
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