Dr. Katherine Flores, UCSF Fresno

Raised by her migrant farmworker grandparents, Fresno native Katherine Flores worked in the fields herself as a youth, picking apricots, pears and plums.

The first in her family to attend college, she became a doctor and now her hometown community is reaping the fruits of her labor.

Flores, a UCSF assistant clinical professor and director of UCSF Fresno’s Latino Center for Medical Education and Research, started the Doctors Academy in 1999 at Sunnyside High School. The innovative, University of California-sponsored program prepares disadvantaged students for college and for health science careers.

The Doctors Academy now includes three high schools in Fresno County, a Junior Doctors Academy at three middle schools and the Pre Health Scholars program at Fresno State. Their combined annual enrollment is 430 students — a diverse group with 55 percent of the participants Latino, 17 percent Southeast Asian, 12 percent East Indian, 7 percent African American and 7 percent white.

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