‘Foos in Medicine' use social media to motivate future Latino doctors

With a shortage of Latino doctors in the country, two young men are using social media to inspire others to pursue a career in medicine.

Also known as the "Foos in Medicine," Irvin Garcia Leal and Alexis Ivan Aleman are third-year medical students at UCLA. They met at an event and began posting videos on social media using the expression "foo," a shortened version of "fool" commonly used by people around Southern California to refer to one another.

The pair quickly gained followers. "People saw that we were mentioning this," Garcia Leal said. "Look at this 'foo' in medicine, he's studying here. And people liked it."

One day, they decided to replace their stethoscopes with their smartphones, giving rise to the idea of sharing their story and motivating future heroes in white coats -- heroes with Spanish surnames.

"We have battles that make this career more challenging," Garcia Leal said.

"We grew up seeing our parents work hard, paying the bills," Aleman added.

A difficult path

Aleman's mother, Fidelia Damian, is a determined immigrant and very proud of her son's achievements.

"It makes me very proud, and yes, I get emotional," Damian said.

Garcia Leal's family's American dream began in the fields of Washington state, but they always lived with a fear of deportation.

"When I was a child, there were times when immigration would come to the apartments where we lived, and my mom would tell me to hide," he recalled. "We would go under the bed."

However, everything changed when DACA came into effect.

"I decided to continue and put in even more effort," Garcia Leal said.

"All the positive things that are happening, that's what tells me, 'OK, we're doing something right,'" Aleman said.

A familiar face in medical consultations

Damian knows that her son's sacrifice will pay off, and it will be exactly what she would have wanted when visiting a doctor.

"I would like the doctor to speak to me in Spanish, my language, and explain everything to me, right," Damian said.

The lack of Latino representation in the field of medicine has a long history in this country.

"For nearly 100 years, we depended on Latin American-educated doctors because the medical schools in California graduated a Latino every two or three years," said Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, a professor at the UCLA School of Medicine.

But the "Foos in Medicine" hope to change that with their social media campaign. Their viral videos have been viewed over 3 million times.

"None of us had family or community members in this doctor space," Garcia Leal said.

"It's a source of pride for me to say that I come from South Central Los Angeles. Yes, we can," added Aleman.