Andrés F. Gil-Bustamante was working at a grocery store when a co-worker convinced him to take a job as a Spanish language interpreter at Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center. Fast forward and Andrés is now set to rejoin Atrium Health as an emergency medicine resident physician, when he graduates from medical school in May. We recently sat down with Andrés to learn more about his full-circle journey.
Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center was your No. 1 choice where you wanted to match as a resident. Why did you want to return to Work for Atrium Health?
It was important to me, not just because it was the place where my love of medicine blossomed, but also because it's the place where I know I'm going to get some of the best training to become the best emergency medicine physician I can become. After leaving and coming back in different roles, I didn't ever feel out of place. There's a spirit of openness at Atrium Health that I just think it's kind of hard to stay away from.
Did you initially go to college to pursue a degree in health care?
My initial passion in life was music. And so, I got my undergraduate degree from Winthrop University in music, playing violin. After graduating from college, I was working at a grocery store, where I met a friend who had heard about a Spanish health care interpreter position at the hospital. I became the first chief scribe for the emergency department and later became one of the first virtual language interpreters in-house.
What inspired you to forego a potential career in music in favor of a career in health care?
At the hospital, I met some amazing individuals who were first-generation immigrants themselves. I saw all these really fantastic people with really humble origins and I thought to myself, ‘Wow, this is an option and I love medicine.’
Why is it important for you to relate with patients through your own experiences?
The social component of it is really important to me as someone who is Latino, queer, identified as a gay, cisgendered male. I think it's really important that I can share my experience with that population, as well, to kind of give them a little peace when they're coming into the emergency department.
