Inspiring grad: Gerardo Hernandez

When Gerardo Hernandez enrolled at UIC, he already was familiar with the university's reputation for promoting health equity and student research.

That's because Hernandez had been coming to UIC for years, starting when he was a high school student at J. Sterling Morton West High Schoolin Berwyn, where he grew up. Even as a teen, he knew he wanted to focus on a career in health and make a difference in his community. He didn't have to wait until college to get started on his path.

On Dec. 14, Hernandez will graduate with a bachelor's degree in nutrition from the College of Applied Health Sciences. And he's been accepted into UIC's Accelerated Master's Coordinated Program to continue his education to become a registered dietitian.

In his first year of high school, Hernandez learned about the Medicina Academy Apprentice Program at UIC and applied. The program in the UIC College of Medicine prepares Latino students for careers in medicine and health care.

Every other Saturday for three years, Hernandez and other Latino high school students in the program came to UIC for lectures from pediatricians and family doctors, discussions about health equity led by UIC medical students, anatomy and physiology lessons, and labs.

Hernandez knew that nutrition is a big factor in chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and kidney disease - diseases that disproportionately affect Latino people. He wanted to develop the skills to make a difference in his community.

"People should have equal access to eating a healthy and balanced diet and living a life that is free from chronic diseases," he said. "Unfortunately, communities of people of color are affected the most by these conditions. I feel like, as a member of the community, I should help my own people and get them where they should be."

After graduating from high school, Hernandez entered UIC in 2021 and later moved from biology to nutrition as his major. He found helpful guidance from the university's Latin American Recruitment and Educational Services, or LARES. Advisors helped him navigate financial aid, shift majors, get tutoring in chemistry and stay on track with classes and requirements for his degree.

In college, Hernandez has kept up the weekly volunteering he started as a high school student - handing out healthy food at the Ebenezer Christian Reformed Church in Berwyn. Now he knows more about growing and cooking these foods, too. For his college nutrition classes, he had to devise healthy recipes, sometimes using food grown and harvested from the UIC Teaching Nutrition Garden behind the Applied Health Sciences building.

"For some of our classes, like Food As Medicine, we are able to collect some of our ingredients there," he said. The students learned farming techniques, too, on a small scale. Hernandez has planted and grown some of the garden's produce during springs and summers.

It wasn't just UIC's focus on health equity that led him to the university. The diversity of its students and breadth of resources for them was also attractive. He knew of the Gender and Sexuality Center and its welcome for LGBTQ students.

At the center, he was able to make instant connections. "I wanted to get to know other students who were also part of the community," he said. "It was a nice place to hang out, do fun events like make art together or watch movies together, do game nights. It was just a fun time."

The accelerated master's degree program encompasses clinical rotations, community work and classroom study. Hernandez would like to work at both UI Health and at an Oak Park food pantry for those requirements. Already, he's thinking about expanding his focus to others he can help - people with eating disorders, which are often misunderstood, he said.

"Usually the case is because they wanted to improve their own health. Maybe they didn't have the proper tools," he said. "But as dietitians,we are equipped to help them set themselves free from that condition."