Coral Gables Senior High School-product Rayden Llano’s travels as a college student have taken him much farther than the usual spring-break blowout at the beach with his buddies. ‘

Since Rayden graduated in the top two percent of his class at Stanford as biology major last year he has studied the healthcare systems of France, Spain and Japan as a Luce Scholar. Recently, he was in Rwanda with the Clinton Global Initiative. This past month, Rayden was awarded the prestigious Marshall Scholarship and will be studying healthcare policy at the London School of Economics.

America needs people like Rayden. As an accomplished Latino interested in a healthcare career, it is critical that young people like him make an impact in our country. And we need build a path for other accomplished Latinos to follow in the healthcare space. There is no more potentially fecund or needy segment of the population.

Here’s why: Although Latinos represent nearly 17 percent of the overall population, the Census Bureau reports Hispanics are glaringly underrepresented in healthcare fields making up only two percent of nurses, just over three percent of pharmacists, and under four percent of physicians. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), there are over 3,000 Latino patients to each Latino physician. In comparison, the ratio for non-Latinos is about 335 patients for each doctor. And with the current healthcare workforce in 37 to 50 age range, the need to invest in students like Rayden is critical, not just for Latinos, but for America.

The Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF) and CVS Caremark are working together to identify, inspire, prepare and position other young Latinos to follow in Rayden’s footsteps into the healthcare field through the Healthcare category as part of the long-standing Youth Awards program, which featured Rayden five years ago.

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