Since our inception in 2014, our team has grown from a small group of 6 to a family of over 50. We started our program with weekly clinic volunteering at the Family Health Center clinic. However, since then we have implemented projects such was gardening, WANY, Makerspace, weight loss group, and many more. Leaders are free to create programs in our group as long as they have a plan, execution, and group to create the program. We have also extended our services beyond the clinic walls, participating in health fairs, donating to shelters, presenting posters at medical conferences, and advocating for social reform.
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Since the COVID 19 pandemic, our program has transitioned online. We still hold weekly meetings virtually and have created new volunteering opportunities such as community service, virtual journal clubs, virtual book clubs, application support groups, MCAT study groups, food pantry, and much more. As we transition to in-person volunteering, our leaders creativity and strength continues to push us forward!
BxCHL is still completely student-led. Aside from volunteer opportunities, we also provide administrative roles for our members to serve as coordinators, a great way to have a chance to lead our group!
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Four coordinators run our daily operations, serving as administrators for program activities while overseeing admission into our program. Our co-director, Dr. Robles, guides the coordinators in these roles by advising their delegation strategies and providing feedback on their decision-making. The coordinators meet on a weekly basis to discuss events and review weekly planning. Coordinators are elected for a period of 6 month and get the chance to implement changes and advancements in BxCHLs' operation.
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Our Leaders have graduated college and attended Master’s programs. We have over 30 Leaders in top medical schools such as Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, New York Medical College, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, Upstate Medical University and the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba. We are proud to have had two of our Leaders, Mustapha Touray and Nabilah Night, be part of the first cohort to matriculate into NYU Long Island.
As our program progresses, we hope to continue devising strategies that attract socially and economically disadvantaged scholars to pursue a career in medicine, and thus further promote the inclusion of underrepresented minorities in Primary Care.
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BxCHL Co-Directors
Dr. Juan Robles was born in Honduras. He moved to the South Bronx at the age of 13. Growing up socioeconomic disadvantaged and caring for underserved communities was a powerful motivation for him to pursue a career in primary care. Although he faced difficulties upon moving to the U.S. and needing to learn English, he graduated as the valedictorian of South Bronx High School. He went on to attend Cornell University and graduated with a B.S in Biology while on the pre-med track. He continued his educational pursuits and earned a Master's Degree in biology from NYU. He then taught science as a New York CIty Teaching Fellow as well as volunteered at Einstein's ECHO Clinic as a translator for its many Spanish-speaking clients. All this work culminated with an acceptance to Albert Einstein College of Medicine as part of the Class of 2011. He later completed Einstein's Family Medicine residency program. Dr Robles is heavily involved in improving health and nutrition literacy in communities, starting weight loss programs, and mentoring underrepresented minority students to pursue careers in health. He is currently an attending Family Medicine physician in the Department of Family and Social Medicine at Montefiore and an assistant professor of Family Medicine at Einstein.
Dr. Juan Robles, BxCHL Co-director
Family Medicine Physician, Montefiore FHC
Assistant Professor, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Dr. Julissa De La Cruz, BxCHL Co-director and Founding Coordinator
Resident at Mount Sinai
Dr. Julissa De La Cruz was born and raised in the South Bronx to Dominican parents, a factory worker and a dishwasher. Growing up in an impoverished and gang-ridden neighborhood with limited resources was challenging, but it also fueled Julissa's early goals to effect change in her community. She decided to become the first doctor in her family. Her path was not straightforward: she completed a year at the University of Miami and briefly attended New York University before taking a break to work. During this time she also had a daughter, but she remained persistent in her goals. She graduated Lehman College and earned a full scholarship to Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she is currently a second-year medical student.
Dr. Maria Gbur
Medical Director, Montefiore Family Health Center
Dr. Maria Gbur is a lifelong New Yorker who received her undergraduate degree from SUNY Stony Brook, her medical degree from SUNY Downstate, and her residency training in Family Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center. She is a Board-certified family physician with a long history of clinical leadership in programs serving marginalized populations in New York City. She has served as Chief Medical Officer for Housing Works, Inc., an HIV services organization with four health care facilities, as Medical Director of the New York City Bureau of Correctional Health Services, and as Medical Director of the Ryan-NENA Community Health Center on the Lower East Side. She has also served as Medical Director for the American Medical Center in Kiev, Ukraine, as voluntary faculty in the Department of Community Medicine at CUNY Sophie Davis School of Medicine, and as Director of the inpatient family medicine unit at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. In summer 2011 Dr. Gbur became the Medical Director of the Montefiore Fordham Family Health Center, where she brings wisdom, expertise, and leadership to patients and staff alike.
For more information regarding BxCHL, email us at theleadership.fhc@gmail.com.​
