mike nelson

AMIGOS alum Mike Nelson, was inspired by his experiences at AMIGOS and by his professors at CU-Boulder. After spending three summers in Latin America, a year studying abroad in Seville, Spain and earning both Spanish and History degrees from CU-Boulder, he is now a Kaiser Permanente pediatrician who also volunteers as a translator and pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital in Tijuana. Nearly two-thirds of his patients are primary Spanish speakers.

“I really liked this idea of completely embedding and engrossing myself in [the Spanish] culture,” Nelson says.

Here is an excerpt from the Colorado Arts & Sciences Magazine written by Lara Herrington Watson. Read Mike’s full story here!

Having traveled in Latin America with Amigos de las Americas, a program connecting volunteers to community-health programs, Nelson quickly learned what he could accomplish with a medical background. He also learned how vital communication is to medicine.
“I can still remember the first few times I got sick in Latin America…[and] the terror I had about effectively [communicating] my symptoms and concerns in a second language,” Nelson says. Today, he is on the other side of the hospital bed.

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Natalie Murdock

Natalie spends her days marketing for AMIGOS, and her nights snuggling with her beagles while reading parenting books.

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