UCLA medical student hopes to bring mobile eye clinics to underserved communities after matching at top program

The nation's next doctors just found out where they'll do their residencies, all at the same time on "Match Day."

When these future doctors open these envelopes, they'll learn the next step in their journey to becoming doctors.

"It's really a rite of passage, where every student in the country finds out at the same moment where they're going to do their residency training," said Dr. Lee Miller, the Associate Dean of Student Affairs at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Nearly 200 UCLA medical students recently interviewed with institutions where they'd like to do their residencies and in a custom, unique way to the medical profession, were matched by a computer in Washington.

"The rank list of the students and the rank list of every residency program goes into a national computer," Miller said.

Some specialties, like ophthalmology, send out their announcements a little early.

Karla Murillo recently found out she'll spend the next three to seven years next door at UCLA's prestigious Stein Eye Institute.

"One of the highlights of medical school for me and really probably of my life is being able to take mobile eye clinic services, like from here from UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic to Bakersfield and to the surrounding towns that are a little bit more rural," Murillo said.

The university's rolling clinics provide underserved communities with vision checks, free eyeglasses and screenings for eye diseases like glaucoma.

"There is a lot of irreversible like vision loss that can happen with that disease and most of the time, patients might not even know that they have it."

Murillo says providing that care isn't just fulfilling, it's personal.

"That's really special to me because my mom has worked as a farm worker for a long time," Murillo said. "I actually encouraged my mom to come to the clinic and then a lot of her friends from work also, so people who have worked, you know, packing produce in the fields."

Years ago, Murillo became the first member of her family to graduate from college.

"My mom immigrated from Mexico, I'm going to cry, she was 16," Murillo said.

She says she's here today because of her mom's sacrifices.

"She's always worked really hard to take care of me and my brothers and you know I grew up with a single mom, so I saw how hard she worked and I think for me I was also very grateful that I had elementary school teachers, who kind of encouraged me to pursue higher education," Murrillo said.

Murillo's mom was by her side when she found out she matched.

But what's clearly made this mom proud is Murillo's heart. Her mom says that she's always cared about her communities, especially farm workers.

Murillo's dream is to work for an academic institution while providing care at a safety net hospital. She wants to help underserved communities learn to better advocate for their health.

Murillo's mom says her daughter's future patients will not only get a highly trained doctor but also a fierce champion.