Julius Orejudos, FACES Oakland alumnus Class of 2009, was born and raised in Oakland, California.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2013. He is currently working part-time as an emergency medical technician at ProTransport-1 Ambulance Company, while doing an informal post-baccalaureate program at UC Berkeley Extension. He is also working as a research assistant under Dr. Richard Sprott’s two projects entitled “Social Saturation and the Postmodern Self Study,” and the “Kink Identity and Sexuality Study.” Outside the scope of academia and work, he is passionate about helping underrepresented students within his community by serving as a teacher and mentor for the Oral Lee Brown Foundation and the Mentoring in Medicine and Science’s Healthy Ambassador Program.
He is pursuing a career in health as a family physician. As a prospective physician, he plans to minimize health disparities, exercise cultural competency, promote healthy living, enhance public health, ultimately uniting the community and health professionals in a safe space to discuss health concerns. He will be applying to both allopathic and osteopathic medical schools this upcoming 2017-2018 application cycle.
He is truly blessed to be a part of such a wonderful program like FACES. He is grateful for the exposure and collaboration he was able to gain through clinical rotations within several hospitals in Oakland encompassing the following departments: pharmacy, clinical research, anesthesia, medical surgery, and pathology. Going into college from an under-resourced background, the experiences and lessons learned from FACES made him standout among his peers. There is no doubt that FACES served as the catalyst for his growing passion and motivation to pursue medicine.
Julius acknowledges, “FACES is more than just a program, it is family. There is never an uncomfortable moment whenever you see another FACES alumni out in the field working or on the streets even after so many years.” Even after graduating from FACES 8 years ago, Dr. Magaña continues to serve as an amazing role model for Julius, advocating and guiding him on his path to become a physician.