January 2010 Notable Alumna

Name: Dr. Abigail Love, MD MPH

AMIGOS Experience: Volunteer (Paraguay '95), PSup (Mexico '96 and '97), APD (Bolivia '99) and PD (Bolivia '00)

Occupation: Physician and professor

Company: Cook County Bureau of Health Services and Cook County-Loyola-Provident Family Medicine Residency

Location: Chicago, IL

Q&A with Abigail

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you’re up to today.
I am a primary care doctor working on the southwest side of Chicago. I majored in cultural anthropology as an undergraduate, then received an MD MPH in New York City, and finally completed a residency in Family Medicine at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. Currently, I am an attending physician for the Cook County Bureau of Health Services and a faculty member of the Cook County-Loyola-Provident Family Medicine Residency. I primarily work and teach at the Jorge Prieto Family Health Center of Cook County. The center is located in the largest Mexican-American community in the city, La Villita: needless to say, I speak mostly Spanish throughout the day! I live nearby and my husband and I have a two year-old son.

Tell us about what you have accomplished or what you are currently working on that you are proud of.
My days are varied and busy: I deliver babies, hold office hours for outpatient visits and teach on an inpatient medicine service. My practice is funded by the county health system, so we mostly serve uninsured and under-insured people. Sadly, this population is growing enormously, and we are hard-pressed to meet the demand. We have to be scrappy!  My colleagues and I care for local families from the cradle to the grave -- I have 9 day-old patients and 90 year-old patients, often related. I like to say I am a country doctor who just happens to be practicing in the inner city. In my public health research, I am currently focusing on strategies to improve maternal-child health care, especially among recently arrived Latina immigrants. Previously, in New York City, I researched harm reduction and needle exchange programs for injection drug users.

Tell us how AMIGOS affected your life. Did it help you get to where you are today?
My clinical practice and academic research involves a large amount of community activism. These skills were first honed during my involvement with AMIGOS. It was also in AMIGOS where I learned skills to educate and empower groups, as well as support community peer educators.On a professional level, from my days on field staff, I learned the benefits of giving and receiving feedback early and often. Finally, on a daily basis, I work in solidarity with the Mexican community, and this commitment stems largely from the opportunity AMIGOS provided.