Researching the complexities of heart disease is a challenge that few attempt to take on in a lifetime, but Nate Chavez ’24 embraced it head-on before he even left high school.
Chavez has been a student on campus for 7 years beginning his journey in 2017 as a Loyola Scholar. He said his journey in medicine began with a school trip in 7th grade to the Anatomage, a human anatomy instruction tool in the Keating building, which is where he now takes Honors Anatomy and Physiology with Mr. Chris White.
As the son of two immigrant parents, Chavez had no access to health insurance, which greatly limited his choice of extracurricular sports, but it didn’t stop him from filling up his free time with the things he was passionate about.
“I wanted to play football here at Brophy, but it would have been too much of a risk if I were to do it without health insurance,” Chavez said. “And so as a result of that, I always stuck with academics and safer extracurriculars.”
He started a project for the Teen of Impact program sponsored by the American Heart Association to spread awareness for the prevention and education of heart disease. During this 9-week competition, he went to community fairs to spread information about how to detect and limit heart disease, and he helped organize a class to teach CPR to the community.
His medical journey doesn’t end there; however, as he has filled every one of his summers with activities focused on learning more about this passion.
He participated in the Summer Scrubs program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine where he lived as a resident of the campus for the summer learning from physicians in different specialties to broaden his understanding of medicine.
“He was a TGen scholar, which is a prestigious research internship that only accepts one person per high school,” said his close friend and fellow member of the Modern Medicine Club, Vir Dolasa-Sahani ’24.
Last summer, Chavez was chosen as our school’s sole candidate for the Translational Genomics Bioscience Leadership Academy where he studied molecular biology and genetics.
Chavez is the president of the Modern Medicine Club on campus where he has presented workshops on medical research opportunities and informational talks to the members of the club. He is also the President of the Key Club where he does service to his community in his constant pursuit of bettering global health.
Chavez earned admission to Northwestern University on a full-ride scholarship to the class of 2028. He plans to double-major in biological sciences and global health studies.
He has gone on numerous human rights trips including KBI, the DC human rights trip, and the National Health Corps service trips to spread medical information to underserved communities and learn more about those he is trying to serve.
“He’s really inspirational for people like me,” said friend Anthony Olakkengil ’24 who went with Chavez to Washington DC on a human rights trip and accompanied him in the college application process.
Chavez is also an active member of many other communities on campus. He has run since his freshman year on the track and field team and has participated in volleyball, basketball, cross country, and wrestling during his four years.
Many of the sports didn’t pan out, but he has been a committed runner and member of the Mock Trial Club for all four years.
He said that mock trial and his government classes have helped him develop his passion for STEM and global health.
“He puts a lot of time, effort and passion into everything he does,” said a fellow member of the mock trial, Chris Lopez ’24.
Chavez said that the KBI immersion trip and National Health Corps service trips were both instrumental in his pursuit of serving the community and developing his passion for helping others through medicine.
He said these trips were formative to his experience in medicine, and were a big part of why he wants to study internal medicine and cardiology.
When asked about his future in medicine, Chavez said, “It’s definitely going to be a long, hard road. It’s just realizing that as a physician you’re in need of others and the fact is that I want to help others. It’s what really fuels me to keep going.”
