Yvette Mendez pursued a Bachelor’s in Community Health Promotion because of her desire to create healthcare systems where immigrant and BIPOC communities feel seen, heard, and understood. Growing up, Yvette rarely encountered healthcare professionals who shared her lived or cultural experiences, and she witnessed firsthand how difficult healthcare systems could be for families like hers to navigate.
“Growing up, I never saw people in healthcare who looked like me or understood me,” Yvette said. “As I got older, I came to understand that the healthcare system was not initially created for people like us.”
Those experiences inspired Yvette to pursue a path focused on advocacy, prevention, and culturally responsive care. She became passionate about increasing representation in healthcare spaces and ensuring underserved communities have advocates who understand the realities shaping their health and wellbeing.
During her undergraduate experience, Yvette interned with the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO), specifically within the Survivor Services Sector. Through the internship, she was able to apply what she had learned in the classroom directly into community-based advocacy work.
“My time there allowed me to put all the time I spent studying advocacy into action,” she said. “Through this experience, I was able to realize that working with immigrant and refugee communities is where my academic and career passions truly reside.”
While navigating school, Yvette also faced profound personal loss after the unexpected passing of her cousin, Meah, just days before her thirteenth birthday. Coming from a large multigenerational household, Yvette described Meah as someone who brought light and energy to the entire family.
“She was 100% the life of the party and the light in our eyes,” Yvette said. “Life is really different now without her.”
Yvette credits her family, friends, and OHSU-PSU faculty and support systems for helping her continue her education during one of the most difficult periods of her life.
“I could not have continued my education without such a solid team around me,” she said.
Her Latine community continues to serve as one of her greatest sources of inspiration and motivation. Yvette is deeply passionate about empowering immigrant communities to advocate for their health and well-being and hopes to help bridge the barriers many families face when accessing care.
“We deserve to take up space, to be heard, and to be seen,” she said. “Health is often not a priority for immigrant populations because the system can feel complex, expensive, and not culturally responsive. One day soon, I will be able to help bridge that gap.”
Yvette also credits her mother, Veronica, as one of the most influential figures in her academic journey. Watching her mother raise two children while earning her Master’s in Social Work (MSW) from PSU, becoming a medical social worker at OHSU, and eventually opening a private practice showed Yvette what resilience and determination could accomplish.
“My mom always reminds me that the path may not always be clear or paved for me,” Yvette said. “Sometimes I will have to pave my own path and make space for myself.”
Following graduation, Yvette will continue her education this fall as an incoming Masters of Public Health (MPH) student in Health Management and Policy at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. She also received the Provost Excellence Scholarship from OHSU, an achievement she describes as helping transform her goals into reality.
Looking ahead, Yvette hopes to address systemic and environmental inequities impacting underserved communities, particularly BIPOC populations, through the intersection of urban planning and public health policy. She is especially passionate about preventive care and using policy as a tool to improve community health outcomes before illness occurs.
“I strongly believe infrastructure and environmental improvements are necessary to produce good health, rather than simply managing disease,” she said. “Mitigating illness through preventive care is my main priority both personally and in my public health career.”