2025–2026 NHLCC Scholar: Lizmari Alcantara Jimenez

Lizmari Alcantara Jimenez

MD
Louisiana State University, New Orleans School of Medicine

Lizmari is a third-year medical student at the LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, she is the proud daughter of Dominican immigrants. After Hurricane Maria, her family relocated to Louisiana - transition that brought significant cultural, linguistic, and academic challenges. She went on to earn her BS in Biological Sciences with a minor in Psychology from Louisiana State University.

As a first-generation medical student, Lizmari is passionate about supporting organizations like the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA), which foster safe and empowering spaces for students to advocate, network, give back, and break barriers in medicine. She served as her school’s chapter president and currently serves as the Programs & Events Liaison for the LMSA National team.

During her gap years, Lizmari worked at Luke’s House Clinic, a free bilingual clinic in New Orleans serving uninsured and immigrant populations. There, she witnessed firsthand the impact of healthcare disparities and the systemic barriers to timely, high-quality care. As a medical student, she continues her involvement as a clinic volunteer and student leader—providing language-concordant care, assessing Spanish proficiency, and onboarding new students. Through her school’s Latino Health Scholars program, she became certified in medical Spanish to better serve her community.

These experiences sparked her interest in addressing the root causes of health disparities through policy and advocacy. In the summer of 2024, she served as a Health Policy Fellow at the National Hispanic Health Foundation in Washington, DC, where she supported advocacy efforts and government affairs initiatives focused on Latino health equity.

Her interests include community health, language access, women’s health, and reproductive rights. While she remains undecided on her specialty of choice, Lizmari hopes to become a physician who champions community health through culturally sensitive care, prevention, and patient-centered education.