David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Electronic Communications: Social Media
Bronze
The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA created a short video to tell the story of friendship, culture, and representation. The video was produced in collaboration with the Foos in Medicine, which is made up of two Latinx medical students who made it big on social by sharing their medical school experiences as children of immigrants.
Released in September 2023 to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month, the goal was to produce an engaging, fun-filled, and heartwarming video that recreates how two friends met on campus and came together to not just share their experiences as first-generation medical students, but also address the nationwide Latinx physician shortage through their popular Instagram account. Across all social channels, there are nearly 223K views and over 25K likes/reaction collectively on Instagram and YouTube Shorts.
Alexis Aleman and Irvin Real Garcia are known to talk authentically about their perspectives as being the only Latinx in their surgery rotation and being a former farmworker, respectively. They have also been featured on the Spectrum News, Jennifer Hudson Show, Univision, and more. This partnership was an opportunity to connect with new audiences and address equity challenges with underrepresentation in an engaging way.
What was the most impactful part of your entry?
The most impactful part of the entry is the overwhelmingly positive comment section of the video. There were 582 comments all filled with nothing but love, inspiration, and lighthearted humor for these two Latinx medical students. This is a prime example of how video is a powerful storytelling tool to uplifting communities.
What challenge did you overcome?
We try to do new types of videos in collaboration with large followings while also understanding the estimated reach and reaction could generate good or bad responses. At the same time, we welcome creative input from our students to showcase their experiences. The video performed surprisingly well. We’ll continue to collaborate with students, who often have good ideas and understand their audiences the best.
Contact:
Regina Ip
rip@mednet.ucla.edu