Lynn doctor: ‘Pursue your dreams’

LYNN – Alex Ramirez has a little advice for students struggling with the idea that they can’t afford college: “My mom would say go for it if it’s what you want to do.”Ramirez knows well that thought process. He grew up poor in East Lynn, the product of a single parent household and when he hit high school he too wondered briefly if college was within his reach.”He said he couldn’t afford to go to college; I said trust in God,” said his mother, Nancy Rodriguez. “I pushed him with faith and love.”Four years of college, four years of medical school and $130,000 in debt later Ramirez hasn’t looked back and Rodriguez gets to do something she admits she loves.”I get to say, ?my son the doctor,” she said giggling. “He’s the first doctor in our family.”Ramirez graduated last month from UMass Medical School after four years of undergraduate work at Boston University. He started his residency Monday.A product of the Lynn school system, Ramirez said he went to Hood Elementary, Pickering Middle School and Lynn English High School. Rodriguez said she remembers it well.”He was so bad about homework, everything had to be perfect for school,” she said. “I would have to force him to go play just so he would be refreshed.”Ramirez said his work ethic seems to be inherent, he always worked hard and he was lucky enough to fall into a crowd that had the same attitude. Of his childhood friends, one is getting his doctorate and another is working for Harvard University after having graduated from the same institution.Ramirez said he was in the eighth grade when his grandfather died “and I spent a lot of time in the hospital with him.” That was the first time he thought about becoming a doctor and the notion stuck.After much soul searching he decided to focus on anesthesiology.”You don’t really get exposed to it that much in medical school but during my fourth year I got exposed to it for a month and I just felt like I fit in,” he said.He also likes being in the operating room but didn’t think he wanted to be a surgeon, and he also likes the pharmacology that goes with being an anesthesiologist.Ramirez began his residency Monday at Metro West Hospital in Framingham. He said he’ll spend a year there before heading to Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center for the remaining three years of his residency.”I love Chicago,” he said. “I have a few friends out there and I just fell in love with it.”Rodriguez said she’ll miss her son terribly when he goes but she appreciates that she’ll have him around for one more year. He is also looking forward to spending as much time with his family, including his sister Kaisha Ramirez and her 7-month old daughter Delylah.When Kaisha Ramirez walks into her mother’s small apartment her brother immediately plops Delylah onto his lap.”I will miss my niece,” he said.Rodriguez admits it was not easy raising two children alone in Lynn but she is proud of how her children turned out.”He is humble, he’s handsome, he’s a doctor,” she said, adding quickly that her daughter is also a burgeoning business woman on the verge of opening her own salon.Rodriguez said she knew Alex Ramirez would do well in life because a teacher told her early on that he had the potential to go far.”He is amazing ? I’m very proud of him,” added Kaisha Ramirez. “I get emotional because he’s the best brother in the world.””If you have dreams pursue them,” Alex Ramirez said. “It takes hard work but really you can achieve anything if you stick with it even if you come from somewhere like Lynn and you have no money.”Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].