FEATURE ARTÍCULO
Community Healthcare Has No Barriers DR. JORGE OTAÑEZ, ASSOCIATE CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER AT TRUECARE, WORKED HIS WAY TO THE TOP IN HIS EFFORT TO HELP OTHERS By Melanie Slone
“H
ealthcare has no ZIP codes.” Such is the mantra of Dr. Jorge Otañez, Associate Chief Medical Officer at TrueCare, where he practices family medicine and healthcare administration since July 2022. The son of parents who both passed away young, Dr. Otañez says their illnesses in part pushed him to study medicine. The day his father passed in June 2003 is still fresh in his mind; a young Jorge walked out of the lobby at UCSD where his family was sitting, turned to an uncle, and said “I’m going to come back and work at this hospital.” That determination would get him to where he is today. Born and raised in Tijuana by his maternal grandmother and aunts, Dr. Otañez and his brother— today a lawyer—lost their mother when Jorge was eight, and their father when he was 18.
The Goal: UCSD As a medical student, Jorge Otañez’s dream was to be a pediatrician. He studied medicine in Tijuana and crossed the border to work three jobs in San Diego on the weekends—at Taco Bell, and at the Hotel del Coronado as both spa attendant and banquet server. He remembers, “Friday afternoon, I would sit two hours to cross the border, waiting to come and work, and I was studying and reading [in line] because I couldn’t waste any time.” All his effort paid off, and Jorge passed the national test to be a pediatrician in Mexico in 2010, moving into a pediatrics residency at a hospital in Mexicali. He then did a year of community service in Rosarito, where he says he felt out of place and frustrated with the training and the environment. “I said, this isn’t for me…I felt like the world just came crumbling down because a pediatrician is what I thought I wanted to be all along…” Soon, he was accepted into a program at UCLA 16 NOVEMBER 2023
for bilingual international medical graduates who wanted to practice family medicine in the state of California. There, despite some resistance from people who believed getting a residency at UCSD was a just a pipedream, Jorge was set on his goal. He said, “I’ll call you when I get accepted to UCSD.” Jorge is grateful for his wife’s support during his time in Pasadena. “She was working. She was helping me, which was important because I couldn’t have a job… you need to fully commit because it’s very difficult for international medical graduates to go through residency programs here in California.” When he was ready to apply for his residency in 2015, he only had eyes for UCSD, remembering his vow from years before. “I made a promise to myself. I haven’t been
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Photo courtesy of TrueCare.
