Never Give Up on Your Dream!

I feel very fortunate to be living my dream of being a doctor, since it almost didn’t happen. I remember, at 10 years old, walking into a hospital where my uncle was being treated. The world of medicine exploded upon me. I knew at that moment that I wanted to be a doctor. I did not know, however, the immensity of that vision, for no one in my family had ever graduated from high school. My mother was a seamstress and a single mother. My father abandoned us, and the rest of my family members were laborers.

With perseverance, I received a full scholarship to UCLA. I completed two years as a pre-med student, but unfortunately flunked out of school. Upon self-reflection, I’ve realized that my academic failure was not due to my intellect, but because I did not believe in myself. I had lost the dream. In fact, I pretended it that it never existed. I spent the next 10 years working in various clerical jobs, trying to climb the career ladder, and not succeeding. I finally realized that I had given up on my dream prematurely, so I went back to school to finish my Bachelor’s degree, and began to dream again! I went on to medical school, then residency. And now, I have my own private medical practice.

My passion is to practice integrative medicine. It is “healing oriented” medicine, which treats the whole person (body, mind, and spirit). I feel that illness starts out as an imbalance in the spirit and mental planes and eventually manifests as disease in the physical body. In my practice, I strive to treat my patients compassionately and kindly. I like to think that I love my patients back to health, and that the medications and treatments I prescribe are just secondary tools. The healing starts the minute my patients walk into my office. I am very committed to providing the best care for my patients. I also believe in empowering my patients to bring about their body’s innate healing response.

My new dream is to expand my practice to provide a broader approach to healing and well-being. I plan to merge high quality conventional and non-conventional therapies that are scientifically proven to promote health and wellness, and also treat disease. No small project, but neither was becoming a doctor.

My patients and friends call me Dr. Maya. I hope you will too.