When Giovanny Reyes was growing up, he watched his father work as a contractor and began to imagine a future as an architect. But after taking an anatomy class in high school, he decided to study biology in college.
While pursuing his undergraduate degree at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, Reyes began volunteering at the Waco Family Medicine clinic. There, he used his skills as a native Spanish speaker to help non-English-speaking patients communicate with their health care providers. He realized he'd found his calling.
“I learned there are so many people who need help and can’t talk to their doctor because of a language barrier, so I decided to become a primary care physician with no language barrier so I can work with Spanish-speaking patients,” he said.
Although he had identified a career path, Reyes was unsure how to move forward. No one in his family had studied medicine, and he had questions about everything from taking the Medical College Entrance Test (MCAT) to choosing extracurricular activities.
“I didn’t know what recommendations to get. I just felt lost,” he said. “When it came time to apply to medical school, my application wasn’t ready. But I applied and was wait-listed. I applied later and was wait-listed a second time. I went to Mexico City and enrolled in the medical program at Tecnológico de Monterrey, but ultimately withdrew and wasn’t sure if I would ever start a program in the U.S.”
Rather than continue putting his life on hold, Reyes decided to pursue another path.
“I left Mexico City and started my master’s degree in biology at the University of Houston,” he said. “That’s where I did more volunteer work at a clinic in Houston, helping patients with their social determinants of health needs, things like food security, transportation to appointments, and the ability to pay for medications.”
He spoke with patients about these challenges and connected them with resources.
“These experiences helped me explain what I wanted to do as a physician during medical school interviews,” he said. “That’s also where I developed a deeper passion for primary care.”
His work as a scribe documenting patient histories, test results, and other information in the electronic health record (EHR) at WellMed and Medical Clinic of Houston — both Houston primary care clinics — helped Reyes better understand the purpose of the four years between his graduation from Baylor, his time in Mexico City, and his master’s program.
“When I graduated from Baylor, I wasn’t ready for medical school,” he said. “I had to mature. My undergraduate years were foundational, but after being wait-listed the first time, I realized I needed to be better prepared and grow as a person.”
His experience as a scribe, which was his first hands-on exposure to a primary care setting, allowed him to envision himself as a physician and reinforced his commitment to the field. Even after being wait-listed a second time, he said it confirmed that medicine was his goal.
Now a first-year medical student at The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), Reyes views those gap years differently.
“It was a matter of figuring out how to bring everything together,” he said. “Someone once told me about the importance of finding my own brand. For me, that’s primary care. I’ve focused on community service and social determinants of health. That’s my brand.”
At 26, Reyes is slightly older than many of his classmates, but he said that perspective has been valuable.
“It’s not how I envisioned it, but my experiences, like scribing, studying in Mexico, and now learning so much more about medicine, make it clear why things happened the way they did,” he said. “I’m now using the skills I gained along the way.”
Reyes serves as a student ambassador, an Albert Schweitzer Fellow, a volunteer at St. Vincent’s Hope Clinic in Galveston, and a member of the Latino Medical Student Association.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to be at UTMB. It was always my dream school,” he said. “I felt the most support for students here, and now I experience that support from both faculty and peers.”
For others struggling to find their path, Reyes offers simple advice: Trust the process.
“I made the right decision,” he said. “It just took a little time.”
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