Christian Hernandez, MD

Hometown

Milwaukee, WI

Interests

Dancing (bachata, salsa, merengue, cumbia, banda), Gardening (variants of raised vegetable garden beds, and flower beds), event planning (for cultural celebrations or service-oriented), weightlifting/cross-fit and soccer (competitive or recreational), mixing music via Traktor DJ software for personal interest or for functions (i.e. hip-hop, rap, reggaeton, Bad Bunny, etc.), enjoying craft beer and cheese curds Wisconsin style. Learning the trades of fermenting vegetables and homebrewing.

Why did you choose UCLA for Residency?

Diverse patient population, academic / county mix of training, opportunity to advance research interest with several faculty doing work that fit my interest, pursuing teaching opportunities and opportunity to live the West coast lifestyle :).

What is your favorite place to visit/thing(s) to do in/memory from living in LA? If you have never lived here before, what are you most excited about?

I have never lived in LA, but I am very excited to explore the food scene, and meet more community activated folks who I hope to learn from!

What do you do in your free time? What hobbies do you have? 

Dancing (bachata, salsa, merengue, cumbia, banda), Gardening (variants of raised vegetable garden beds, and flower beds), event planning (for cultural celebrations or service-oriented), weightlifting/cross-fit and soccer (competitive or recreational), mixing music (S/O to Bad Bunny)

What are your areas of interest within EM or future career plans? 

Social Emergency Medicine, Community-Engaged Research, Critical Care, NCSP, and exploring the idea of Undersea/Hyperbaric Medicine

Are you involved in any research or national EM committees etc? If so, what?

Collaborating on a research study titled: "The Afro-Latinx Health Project" with a faculty member from UC-Santa Cruz, Closing out an Honors Thesis on an violence prevention intervention engaging Latino men, Serving as a mentor on the EMRA Mentorship Program

Is there any other information you'd like to share with EM applicants? 

Always happy to link up and build collaborations with folks if you have any cool ideas. Very new to L.A. so plan to explore broadly the community needs in different neighborhoods, but very interested in working to collaborate with street medicine initiatives, and also food justice, and urban gardening especially building raised beds to provide another source of food.

Are there any projects or outside extracurricular you are working on?

With the Latino Medical Student Association we started a pilot project seeking to get members more physically activated called the "LMSAFit2021" challenge with incentives if folks complete either 50 miles running in a month or 750 minutes total of workouts. Also I am working on a project with the Office of Minority Health called Moving Forward in Health (and also Total Wellness /Bienestar Total) which is all about promoting healthy living and discussing cancer prevention in the Hispanic/Latinx and Black/African American community's.

What is your go-to song to get pumped up on shift?

Mi Gente - J Balvin

Any hidden talent(s)?

I love Bachata dancing!!!

Who would you be if you could be any superhero?

Daddy Yankee

Where would we find you if not in the department (ie. couch, beach, wilderness, climbing, etc.)?

Outdoors somewhere in LA enjoying the sun

Next vacation stop?

Puerto Rico

What is your spirit animal?

Xoloitzcuintle