Gaining Ground and Giving Back

Serena Enriquez, born and raised in the border town of Edinburg, Texas, has a kind smile and eyes that light up when she’s talking passionately. She is a first-year residential Master of Public Health (MPH) in Community Health Science student in Baylor University’s Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, and she has big goals of giving back to medically underserved populations that reflect the one she grew up in.

Enriquez began her Baylor journey in the pre-med program and earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology (cell and molecular biology concentration). Early on, she desired to work on a project where she could incorporate STEM, her experiences, and her passion for healthcare. She used a Baylor database to search every professor's research project and narrowed it down to two professors whose research aligned with her own passions.
So, at the end of her sophomore year, she worked on pediatrics and child physical activity research with Renée Umstattd Meyer, PhD, MCHES, FAAHB, Associate Dean for Research for Robbins College, and Professor in the Department of Public Health.
“Dr. Umstattd Meyer responded, we met, and we immediately clicked. I shared with her my passion for serving others and advocating for those who are systematically unheard, specifically those who reside in rural border communities such as the one I grew up in,” Enriquez said. “She immediately pushed for me to get connected with her research projects, as well as to apply to Baylor’s MPH program. Dr. Umstattd Meyer was definitely one of the most important people in my undergraduate career because she took me under her wing and introduced me to the research world—all while allowing me to bring my culture, experiences, and unique passions to her table.”
It was while working as a researcher for Robbins College that Enriquez began to realize a background in public health could be imperative to her future success. As she also worked and volunteered with physicians, their advice also pointed in the same direction—obtain a MPH degree—because it could help her be a well-rounded physician and more able to see aspects of disease, health, and public policy in a broader lens.
It wasn’t just her time as a Baylor undergraduate that influenced her decision to pursue a MPH, it was also her eye-opening experiences while moving away from the hometown she hadn’t realized was underserved. Enriquez describes her hometown as a cyclical place—many individuals stay in Edinburg once they graduate from high school—so her decision to come to Baylor was a blessing and a step toward breaking that cycle.
“I realized I had not had the same opportunities as other people growing up,” she recalled. “I watched my family members, most of whom don't have college degrees or even high school diplomas, and how their struggles affect their livelihood and, in turn, affect their health. That was the one thing in my household that my parents always expressed, ‘You will do better than us. You will have better.’”
Enriquez had experienced health inequity firsthand in Edinburg, and as a result, her passion is to return home and spur change in the healthcare system. She wants to become a physician who sees a patient as a human, not for how much money they’re going to bring in.
“You can be in the same city and one group of people has such great access to so many resources—super low death rates, sickness rates, disease rates—and then just 20 minutes away, there is another group of people who are suffering,” she said. “I feel like the healthcare system is so business-focused now. It shouldn’t be. Health is a fundamental human right.”

She says that because this disparity all boils down to how communities are assisted, Hispanic public health professionals contribute a unique perspective on health due to their drive and grit. Enriquez plans to attend medical school after she finishes the MPH program at Baylor. Knowing education is not something that is readily available to every person living in her hometown, or in her own family, she calls on students to appreciate the education they’re getting—and to use it to break cycles and barriers.
“I think it's really special to be a Hispanic woman in higher education right now. I see it as a privilege, and I see it as something that I'm not going to take for granted. Education is power,” she said. “When we're talking in class about certain issues, I always have something to say, because I've experienced it or I've seen it happen in my own family. I’m bringing first-hand experience into the MPH degree, as well as into my future as a physician.”
Her interest is pediatrics, a specialty where she can have the most influence on parents and children with topics like preventative medicine and health education. She aspires to eventually have a practice of her own and do nonprofit work at free clinics in medically underserved areas across Texas.
“I have always had a burning passion to help people. That has always been my main motivator,” she stated. “I just want to be in places where I can be a voice for people who don't have their own or who get overlooked because they can't afford certain things. That's what I want to do with my life.”