{"id":65454,"date":"2022-09-01T17:08:25","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T23:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=65454"},"modified":"2022-09-12T14:24:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T20:24:15","slug":"abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"Her parents grew up impoverished in Mexico. Now she\u2019s ‘a picture of the American Dream.’\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"Dr.
Dr. Abbey Lara holding a photo of her dad with the Caltech telescope that he helped maintain in California. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Abbey Lara still remembers picking cotton as a child and feeling the scratchy plants poking her legs as she stuffed them in a burlap sack.

Lea este art\u00edculo en espa\u00f1ol<\/a>. <\/div>\n

Her grandmother, Abigail, for whom she was named, lived on a plantation near Mexicali in northern Mexico. Mama Gai, as they called her (short for Mama Abigail) paid her rent by tending fields of cotton and wheat. When Abbey, her sister and their parents went to visit, they worked too.<\/p>\n

\u201cChild labor? Sure. That\u2019s what Mexican families do when they\u2019re poor,\u201d said Lara.<\/p>\n

Both of Lara\u2019s parents came from extreme poverty.<\/p>\n

Her dad, Jos\u00e9, was one of 16 children who grew up in a small town in central M\u00e9xico called El Espejo, which translates in English to \u201cthe mirror.\u201d He never finished kindergarten and later came to the U.S. to work as a migrant apple picker through the Bracero Program<\/a>, which brought Mexican laborers to the U.S.<\/p>\n

Lara\u2019s mother was born in the western Mexican region of Michoac\u00e1n, known for its stunning coasts and colonial cathedrals. One of five children, she, too, barely got to go to school. \u00a0Maria Alicia later met her husband in Tijuana. He was already living and working in the U.S. They dated for about a year, then Lara\u2019s mom married her dad and the couple moved to a rural area northeast of San Diego where they raised their two daughters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe grew up on a mountain,\u201d Lara said. \u201cWe had a big garden in our backyard. We had apple trees. My dad was a hunter. He taught me to use BB guns. We had chickens too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lara loved the neighbor\u2019s dog, Muddy. But Muddy loved the chickens, and when Muddy attacked one of them, Lara calmly ran inside, grabbed a needle and thread and did her best to stitch up the chickens\u2019 wounds. To her, it was no big deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to watch a lot of nature shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

But others marveled that she wasn\u2019t the least bit squeamish, and instead, was fascinated by the chickens\u2019 anatomy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when my family knew I was going to be a doctor someday,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

\"Abbey
Abbey Lara rolling tortillas as a child with her mom in the background. Photo courtesy of Dr. Abbey Lara.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite having no family members who ever had gone to college, much less graduate school, Lara did make it to medical school and beyond.<\/p>\n

On the day when she graduated from medical school at the University of California San Diego \u2014 where she also earned her undergraduate degree \u2014 Lara\u2019s parents beamed with pride.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad was a man of few words,\u201d Lara said, tearing up as she thinks about her father, who passed away in 2008. “At the graduation dinner, he looked at me and said, \u2018You are Dr. Lara. You will always be Dr. Lara.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed.<\/p>\n

Dr. Abbey Lara<\/a> is now a pulmonologist and a critical care doctor at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital<\/a>. She is also UCHealth\u2019s medical director for health equity and\u00a0an associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine<\/a> on the Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a>. Lara holds the Marsico Chair for Excellence, an endowment that gives her the freedom to support young doctors and researchers who are expanding knowledge of lung and breathing problems.<\/p>\n

As Lara reflects of her rise from those cotton fields to the halls of higher education and her leadership roles at a top academic medical center, she is proud and grateful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am, quite literally, the picture of the American Dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Abbey Lara achieved her dream of becoming a doctor. Here, she poses with her father, Jos\u00e9 Lara, at the University of Wisconsin when she was starting her residency. Photo courtesy of Dr. Abbey Lara.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Throughout the pandemic, Lara has played a key role in caring for critically ill patients in COVID-19 intensive care units (ICUs). During the spring of 2020, when doctors and nurses had little knowledge about the new coronavirus and few therapies to treat sick patients, Lara and her colleagues had to march in fearlessly and do their best to keep patients alive. Each day, when Lara studied the people in her care, she couldn\u2019t help but notice that a disproportionate number of them were Black or Hispanic people \u2014 including workers who had the kind of jobs that didn\u2019t allow them to isolate at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was striking how many of my patients could have been members of my own family,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

Her compassion for people from all backgrounds makes Lara uniquely sensitive and talented at her job.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a remarkable human being,\u201d said Dr. Rita Lee, a friend and UCHealth colleague, who was Lara\u2019s chief resident back when the women were training at the Cleveland Clinic in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was with her the first time a patient passed away,\u201d Lee said. \u201cIt was so emotional and challenging. It was really touching to see how deeply she cared for her patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s always thinking about other people and what their perspectives might be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Central to Lara\u2019s life and work are her Mexican roots and humble upbringing.<\/p>\n

On a California mountain, a little girl\u2019s dream took shape<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Apples and economic opportunity brought Lara\u2019s dad to California at age 19. Then help from a kind boss led him to a new career and a giant mirror, a fateful twist for a young man from El Espejo.<\/p>\n

Lara\u2019s dad was working at an orchard on Palomar Mountain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe owner was Doris Bailey. She took a liking to my dad and said, \u2018You\u2019re so bright and good with your hands. You can\u2019t be working in the fields.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Bailey introduced Jos\u00e9 to the managers of Caltech\u2019s famous Palomar Observatory<\/a> located on the summit of the mountain. It boasted the 200-inch Hale Telescope, once the world\u2019s largest and most powerful.<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 became a maintenance manager at the facility and was the single person trusted to hand-wash the expensive, giant mirror that powered the telescope and made space exploration possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a source of pride that this person who had no education was trusted with this job,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Abbey Lara’s father, Jos\u00e9 Lara, posing with the giant mirror on the Caltech telescope that he maintained. Photo courtesy of Dr. Abbey Lara.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Swedish coworker also took Jos\u00e9 under his wing and taught him English. As a result, Lara\u2019s dad spoke his adopted language with a funny lilt.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always spoke English with a Swedish accent,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

Her mom spoke only Spanish when she arrived in the U.S., but learned English over time and insisted that her girls assimilate.<\/p>\n

Fearlessness and a powerful family work ethic<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Abbey was always fearless, said her mom, Maria, who is now 74.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d carry around dead snakes and mice. Sometimes, she\u2019d dissect them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to see the heart,\u201d she\u2019d excitedly tell her mom.<\/p>\n

Life was good on Palomar Mountain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very pretty place to live, but lonesome sometimes too,\u201d Maria said.<\/p>\n

Almost no one spoke Spanish, so Maria tried to learn English and took on extra work to help support the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to improve, to show I could do something. I started embroidering,\u201d Maria said.<\/p>\n

She made and sold sweaters, worked as a cook in a monastery. She later earned her GED and a certification as a home health aide.<\/p>\n

A local family doctor inspired Lara\u2019s dreams<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Along with her family, a rural doctor had a profound influence on Lara.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe family physician who took care of our entire family was an amazing person. Dr. Warren Jacobs loved being a doctor. And he was the whole reason that I wanted to go into family medicine,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

Between stitching up chickens and finding a mentor in her community, Lara made an early prediction about her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was about 6 or 7 and we were driving near La Jolla,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

She spied the buildings at University of California San Diego (UCSD) and made a bold pronouncement from the back seat of the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to go there for college. I want to be a doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Abbey Lara loves camping and hunting. Here, she poses with the Airstream travel trailer that she and her husband purchased during the pandemic. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her parents supported her ambitions by moving Lara at age 12 from a small school on Palomar Mountain to larger middle and high schools in Escondido near San Diego. There, Lara had more opportunities, excelled in academics and played basketball and softball.<\/p>\n

Lara\u2019s older sister, Lucy, sometimes helped her with homework. Teachers stepped up too.<\/p>\n

Having barely gone to school themselves, Lara\u2019s parents couldn\u2019t help much with academics, but placed great value on the girls\u2019 achievements.<\/p>\n

Maria remembers taking Abbey\u2019s report card to school and asking teachers if her daughter was taking the right classes to make it to college and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have any education at all. My mother never could write a single letter,\u201d Maria, said, tearing up as she recalled the family\u2019s struggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always encouraged the girls to learn. We didn\u2019t want it to be hard for them like it was for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lara\u2019s childhood dreams became a reality when she got in to UCSD. To save money, she commuted to campus. She majored in microbiology and psychology with dual minors in neuroscience and philosophy.<\/p>\n

There were times when Lara doubted she\u2019d get in to medical school. When worries overwhelmed her, her parents gave her a great gift.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was questioning my potential and ability and they said, \u2018So, what\u2019s the worst thing that\u2019s going to happen if you don\u2019t\u2019 get in? You\u2019ll still be our daughter.\u2019 They decreased the pressure I was putting on myself and made it OK,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

Her parents\u2019 approach was simple and sweet: \u201cThey gave us lots and lots of love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Lara did get in to medical school. When she graduated, her mom shared the news with their old family doctor. By then Jacobs was retired, but he proudly saluted Lara. He had never forgotten the little girl with big eyes and dark black pigtails who always told him she\u2019d be following in his footsteps.<\/p>\n

A talent for being the calmest person in the room<\/h2>\n

Along with family medicine, Lara also explored specialties, including cardiology and infectious diseases. She found role models among intense, dedicated women.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be just like them, taking care of complex patients,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

She ultimately found her calling in pulmonary and critical care medicine. Her personality was a perfect match for high-stress environments.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be able to calm the waters,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Abbey Lara in her kitchen, where she loves to cook. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She loved ICUs, where nurses and doctors team up.<\/p>\n

Of course, she never imagined she\u2019d have to put her skills to work during the worst global pandemic in more than a century.<\/p>\n

\u201cMedicine is a stressful career. But I\u2019m good at being the calmest one in the room and leading a team,\u201d she said. \u201cAt the end of the day, what matters most is the patients. They have to put their trust in complete strangers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course Lara had to communicate with many relatives whose loved ones died of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, she had learned years earlier how to provide solace.<\/p>\n

Back when Dr. Lee was her chief resident in Cleveland, Lara remembers feeling utterly powerless when she coped for the first time with a patient who died.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what to do,\u201d Lara told Lee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what we do. We stay here with the patient and the family,\u201d Lee told her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking in the ICU is an adrenaline rush,\u201d Lara said. \u201cI also realized that one of the most important aspects of the job is sharing my emotions and supporting patients in having a dignified death.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Abbey Lara dressed in full protective gear as she cared for patients in a COVID-19 ICU. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She\u2019s quick to shed tears with patients and family members alike. Perhaps these experiences prepared her to deal with her own family\u2019s sorrows a few years later.<\/p>\n

A sad personal lesson on the care all patients deserve<\/h2>\n

Lara was a young doctor doing her fellowship in Denver in 2008 when she received a call that her dad had cancer.<\/p>\n

The news was utterly heartbreaking. Lara instantly rushed home to help.<\/p>\n

While her dad was hospitalized, his doctor refused to speak with Lara.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe experience of my father\u2019s doctor refusing to speak to me was both traumatizing and educational as it informs how I act with my patients and families today,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

It was left to Lara to explain the tough choices her dad was facing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him that if his heart stopped or he couldn\u2019t breathe on his own, they could put him on life support,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said \u2018no.\u2019 He told me, \u2018It\u2019s OK mija. It\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n

Two months after receiving his diagnosis, Lara\u2019s father passed away.<\/p>\n

A proud ‘Brown girl’<\/h2>\n

Lara knows her dad deserved better treatment. So do other patients who don\u2019t speak English or who are people of color. As a little girl, Lara had the nickname \u201cMorena,\u201d which means dark-skinned girl.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s deeply proud of her heritage: as a Brown woman, as a first-generation college and medical student, as a Mexican American and likely, as a person with indigenous roots.<\/p>\n

In her role as UCHealth\u2019s medical director for health equity, she\u2019s eager to make things easier for diverse patients and staff members alike.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make things better for people of color and those who do not have access to health care. I view access to health care as a right, not a privilege,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

With her achievements and background, she feels both pride and a duty to ease the path for others.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Abbey Lara has been learning more about her roots. She recently started learning to do Huichol beading, an ancient Mexican Indian tradition. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While her parents had great opportunities, they also faced challenges as immigrants and Spanish speakers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was nobody who looked like us on the mountain. I know there was bias, some element of racism,\u201d Lara said. \u201cPart of the reason our parents wanted my sister and me to speak English was that they had experienced racism. They didn\u2019t want us to go through that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lara is pleased that large institutions, like UCHealth, are doing more to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working to improve access to care and to address technology gaps,\u201d Lara said. \u201cI think about every patient. It\u2019s not just Black or Brown people. It\u2019s refugees. It\u2019s people who live in rural areas or those with limited knowledge of health care. Nor do we translate medical vernacular in ways that everyone can understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with access to care, Lara said all people deserve \u201cexcellence in patient care.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s long been clear that people of color or those from lower socio-economic backgrounds get sick at higher rates and suffer worse health outcomes.<\/p>\n

Lara is eager to better track data and improve the lives of all patients.<\/p>\n

‘Hispanic families love to gather – Love language is cooking for people’<\/h2>\n

Among Lara\u2019s favorite activities outside of work is cooking for people.<\/p>\n

\u201cHispanic families love to gather. Our love language is very much cooking,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite thing that I make is chile verde.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her recipe and technique are extra special because she uses her Grandmother Abbey\u2019s molcajete, a Mexican mortar and pestle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tomatillo based. I used jalapenos and serranoes, a lot of cilantro and now that I live in Colorado, I incorporate Pueblo green chiles,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

In a nod to her Mexican heritage, she loves using Mayan sea salt.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Abbey Lara loves cooking for people. One of her specialties in her salsa verde. She uses her grandmother’s molcajete to grind the chiles. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lara also is leaning into traditional indigenous skills.<\/p>\n

She and her husband, Jody Martinez, are avid hunters. Lara hunts with a bow, meaning she must closely track an animal before she\u2019s close enough to take a shot with her bow. She and Jody always use all the meat from successful hunting trips.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t kill anything we can\u2019t eat,\u201d Lara said.<\/p>\n

\"One
One of Dr. Abbey Lara’s most precious possessions is her grandmother’s molcajete. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A newer skill that she\u2019s learning is called Huichol beading. It\u2019s an ancient Mexican Indian tradition.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I\u2019ve gotten older, I want to learn more about my traditions and culture. It keeps me grounded,\u201d Lara said<\/p>\n

She uses a porcupine quill and dips it in pine or bee\u2019s wax, then decorates bowls and other objects to make colorful creations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe archery, cooking and bead work are all ways for me remember who I am,\u201d Lara said. \u201cI\u2019m proud of my heritage. I\u2019m proud of my culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about UCHealth’s commitment to the values<\/a> of respect, fairness and compassion for everyone.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abbey Lara still remembers picking cotton as a child and feeling the scratchy plants poking her legs as she stuffed them in a burlap sack. Her grandmother, Abigail, for whom she was named, lived on a plantation near Mexicali in northern Mexico. Mama Gai, as they called her (short for Mama Abigail) paid her rent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2123,"featured_media":65464,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[177],"class_list":["post-65454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-pulmonology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAbby Lara's parents grew up poor in Mexico. Now she's a doctor living the American Dream. - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As a child, Abbey Lara helped her family pick cotton. Education became a ticket to success. Family \u2014 and her patients \u2014 motivate Lara every day.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Her parents grew up impoverished in Mexico. Now she\u2019s 'a picture of the American Dream.'\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a child, Abbey Lara helped her family pick cotton. Education became a ticket to success. Family \u2014 and her patients \u2014 motivate Lara every day.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UCHealth Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-01T23:08:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-12T20:24:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/09\/01121847\/Lead-image-tiny.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, UCHealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, UCHealth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"15 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, UCHealth\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d43cd81d6f8e440a3e496f8a012c68e9\"},\"headline\":\"Her parents grew up impoverished in Mexico. Now she\u2019s ‘a picture of the American Dream.’\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-01T23:08:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-12T20:24:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":3058,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/01121847\\\/Lead-image-tiny.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Pulmonology\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\\\/\",\"name\":\"Abby Lara's parents grew up poor in Mexico. Now she's a doctor living the American Dream. - UCHealth Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/01121847\\\/Lead-image-tiny.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-01T23:08:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-12T20:24:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"As a child, Abbey Lara helped her family pick cotton. Education became a ticket to success. Family \u2014 and her patients \u2014 motivate Lara every day.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/01121847\\\/Lead-image-tiny.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/01121847\\\/Lead-image-tiny.webp\",\"width\":800,\"height\":608,\"caption\":\"Dr. Abbey Lara holding a photo of her dad, posing with the Caltech telescope that he helped maintain in California. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Her parents grew up impoverished in Mexico. Now she\u2019s ‘a picture of the American Dream.’\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/\",\"name\":\"UCHealth Today\",\"description\":\"UCHealth Today\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UCHealth\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/24135149\\\/UCHealth-square-logo-1000x1000-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/24135149\\\/UCHealth-square-logo-1000x1000-1.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"UCHealth\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/uchealthorg\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/uchealth\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/uchealth\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/school\\\/14839\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pinterest.com\\\/uchealthorg\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UC41SJI79yjZIe96OajzN22g\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d43cd81d6f8e440a3e496f8a012c68e9\",\"name\":\"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, UCHealth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e4b3e7f171d65a6d6ea64ec84c6b217b969af09b9439c593a692bbcccd793724?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e4b3e7f171d65a6d6ea64ec84c6b217b969af09b9439c593a692bbcccd793724?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e4b3e7f171d65a6d6ea64ec84c6b217b969af09b9439c593a692bbcccd793724?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, UCHealth\"},\"description\":\"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon is a proud Coloradan. She attended Colorado College thanks to a merit scholarship from the Boettcher Foundation and worked as a park ranger in Rocky Mountain National Park during summers in college. Katie is a dedicated storyteller who loves getting to know UCHealth patients and providers and sharing their inspiring stories. Katie spent years working as an award-winning journalist at the Rocky Mountain News and at an online health policy news site before joining UCHealth in 2017. Katie and her husband, Cyrus \u2014 a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer \u2014 have three adult children and love spending time in the Colorado mountains and traveling around the world.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/author\\\/mccrimmonk\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Abby Lara's parents grew up poor in Mexico. Now she's a doctor living the American Dream. - UCHealth Today","description":"As a child, Abbey Lara helped her family pick cotton. Education became a ticket to success. Family \u2014 and her patients \u2014 motivate Lara every day.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Her parents grew up impoverished in Mexico. Now she\u2019s 'a picture of the American Dream.'\u00a0","og_description":"As a child, Abbey Lara helped her family pick cotton. Education became a ticket to success. Family \u2014 and her patients \u2014 motivate Lara every day.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/","og_site_name":"UCHealth Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/","article_published_time":"2022-09-01T23:08:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-09-12T20:24:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/09\/01121847\/Lead-image-tiny.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, UCHealth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@uchealth","twitter_site":"@uchealth","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, UCHealth","Est. reading time":"15 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/"},"author":{"name":"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, UCHealth","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d43cd81d6f8e440a3e496f8a012c68e9"},"headline":"Her parents grew up impoverished in Mexico. Now she\u2019s ‘a picture of the American Dream.’\u00a0","datePublished":"2022-09-01T23:08:25+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-12T20:24:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/"},"wordCount":3058,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/09\/01121847\/Lead-image-tiny.webp","keywords":["Pulmonology"],"articleSection":["Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/","url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/","name":"Abby Lara's parents grew up poor in Mexico. Now she's a doctor living the American Dream. - UCHealth Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/09\/01121847\/Lead-image-tiny.webp","datePublished":"2022-09-01T23:08:25+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-12T20:24:15+00:00","description":"As a child, Abbey Lara helped her family pick cotton. Education became a ticket to success. Family \u2014 and her patients \u2014 motivate Lara every day.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/09\/01121847\/Lead-image-tiny.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/09\/01121847\/Lead-image-tiny.webp","width":800,"height":608,"caption":"Dr. Abbey Lara holding a photo of her dad, posing with the Caltech telescope that he helped maintain in California. Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon for UCHealth."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/abbey-lara-doctor-with-mexican-heritage-living-american-dream\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Her parents grew up impoverished in Mexico. Now she\u2019s ‘a picture of the American Dream.’\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/","name":"UCHealth Today","description":"UCHealth Today","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#organization","name":"UCHealth","url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/24135149\/UCHealth-square-logo-1000x1000-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/24135149\/UCHealth-square-logo-1000x1000-1.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"caption":"UCHealth"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/","https:\/\/x.com\/uchealth","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/uchealth\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/14839\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/uchealthorg\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC41SJI79yjZIe96OajzN22g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d43cd81d6f8e440a3e496f8a012c68e9","name":"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, UCHealth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4b3e7f171d65a6d6ea64ec84c6b217b969af09b9439c593a692bbcccd793724?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4b3e7f171d65a6d6ea64ec84c6b217b969af09b9439c593a692bbcccd793724?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4b3e7f171d65a6d6ea64ec84c6b217b969af09b9439c593a692bbcccd793724?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, UCHealth"},"description":"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon is a proud Coloradan. She attended Colorado College thanks to a merit scholarship from the Boettcher Foundation and worked as a park ranger in Rocky Mountain National Park during summers in college. Katie is a dedicated storyteller who loves getting to know UCHealth patients and providers and sharing their inspiring stories. Katie spent years working as an award-winning journalist at the Rocky Mountain News and at an online health policy news site before joining UCHealth in 2017. Katie and her husband, Cyrus \u2014 a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer \u2014 have three adult children and love spending time in the Colorado mountains and traveling around the world.","url":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/author\/mccrimmonk\/"}]}},"coauthors":[{"id":2123,"name":"Katie Kerwin McCrimmon","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/author\/mccrimmonk\/"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65454"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65672,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65454\/revisions\/65672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}