Kimberly Ontiveros Gomez

Kimberly Ontiveros Gomez is a first-generation UC San Diego graduate, aspiring physician, and community health advocate with over 13 years of experience as a medical assistant. She serves as the Lead Mentor for the Kaiser Permanente SURF Program and is the founder of NextGen Health Leaders, a mentorship initiative that inspires middle school students from underserved communities to explore healthcare careers. Kim volunteers at the UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic as a bilingual interpreter, phlebotomist, and ESL lead teacher, and also serves as the Lead Medical Spanish Teaching Assistant at the UCSD School of Medicine. As a former teen parent and nontraditional student, she is deeply committed to building mentorship spaces rooted in equity, empathy, and representation.​

​

Featured work: Beyond Talent: The Unspoken Challenges That Keep Underrepresented Students Out of Medicine