I'm originally from a tiny town in Northern Virginia, what was then a rural area where the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers meet. As a kid, I spent part of my summers on a tractor in our fields, and part of my summers in Little Havana, Miami, to be with my dad's Cuban relatives. I chose to study and practice medicine because I wanted to have a set of practical skills I could take anywhere, and I wanted to work with individuals to solve problems and help make things better.